The New Avant-garde In Italy: Theoretical Debate And Poetic Practices (toronto Italian Studies)

The debate on literature and the arts provoked by the Italian neoavant-garde ( neoavanguardia ) is undoubtedly one of the most animated and controversial the country has witnessed from World War II to the present. Comprising the period between the late 1950s and the late 1960s, the phenomenon of the neoavanguardia involved key writers, critics, and artists, both as insiders - Sanguineti, Balestrini, Guglielmi, Eco, and others - and adversaries such as Pasolini, Calvino, and Moravia. In The New Avant-Garde in Italy - the first book in English to document the movement - John Picchione's objective is twofold: to provide a comprehensive analysis of the theoretical tenets that inform the works of the neoavanguardia and to show how they are applied to the poetic practices of its authors. The neoavanguardia cannot, Picchione argues, be defined as a movement with a unified program expressed in the form of manifestos or shared theoretical principles. It experiences irreconcilable internal conflicts that are explored as a split between two main blocs - one that is tied to the project of modernity, the other to post-modern aesthetic postures. This study suggests that some of the contentious views proposed by the neoavanguardia anticipated a wide range of issues that continue to be significant and pressing to this day. MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict CONTENTS 6 PREFACE 8 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 10 1 Poetry in Revolt: The Novissimi 14 2 The Neoavanguardia and the Theoretical Debate 43 3 The Gestural and Schizoid Language of Alfredo Giuliani 92 4 Collage, Multilingualism, and Ideology: Elio Pagliarani's Epic Narratives 107 5 Edoardo Sanguineti and the Labyrinth of Poetry 125 6 The Poetic Nomadism of Antonio Porta 140 7 Nanni Balestrini and the Invisibility of the Poetic 'I' 159 8 Other Poets, Other Subversions 175 9 Crossing the Boundaries of the Word: The Visual Poets 191 10 Closing Remarks 203 NOTES 208 WORKS CITED 242 INDEX 254 "The New Avant-Garde in Italy provides a comprehensive analysis of the theoretical tenets that inform the works of the neoavanguardia and shows how they are applied to the poetic practices of its authors. The neoavanguardia cannot, Picchione argues, be defined as a movement with a unified program expressed in the form of manifestos or shared theoretical principles. Irreconcilable internal conflicts within the movement resulted in a split between two main blocs - one tied to the project of modernity, the other to postmodern aesthetic postures. This study explores some of the contentious views proposed by the neoavanguardia and demonstrates how they anticipated a wide range of issues that are of continuing importance today."--Résumé de l'éditeur "The New Avant-Garde in Italy provides a comprehensive analysis of the theoretical tenets that inform the works of the neoavanguardia and shows how they are applied to the poetic practices of its authors. The neoavanguardia cannot, Picchione argues, be defined as a movement with a unified program expressed in the form of manifestos or shared theoretical principles. Irreconcilable internal conflicts within the movement resulted in a split between two main blocs - one tied to the project of modernity, the other to postmodern aesthetic postures. This study explores some of the contentious views proposed by the neoavanguardia and demonstrates how they anticipated a wide range of issues that are of continuing importance today."--BOOK JACKET. Italian art and literature is now undergoing its most animated and controversial debate since World War II, says Picchione (languages, literature, and linguistics; York U., Canada), and it has been provoked by the Italian neoavant-garde. He analyzes the theoretical tenets that inform the works of the movement, and shows how they are applied in the poetic practices of its authors. He limits his study to poetry, where he finds the movement's most remarkable results. Quotations are in Italian with English translation. Annotation : 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)