The Years of Alienation in Italy : Factory and Asylum Between the Economic Miracle and the Years of Lead

The Years of Alienation in Italy offers an interdisciplinary overview of the socio-political, psychological, philosophical, and cultural meanings that the notion of alienation took on in Italy between the 1960s and the 1970s. It addresses alienation as a social condition of estrangement, caused by the capitalist system, a pathological state of the mind and an ontological condition of subjectivity. Contributors to the edited volume explore the pervasive influence this multifarious concept had on literature, cinema, architecture, and photography in Italy. The collection also theoretically reassesses the notion of alienation from a novel perspective, employing Italy as a paradigmatic case study in its pioneering role in the revolution of mental health care and factory work during these two decades. Alessandra Diazzi is Lecturer in Italian at the University of Manchester, UK. Her work focuses primarily on the reception of psychoanalysis in Italian culture, with a particular focus on the relationship between psychoanalysis and impegno in Italy. She has published articles on contemporary Italian literature and cinema. Alvise Sforza Tarabochia is Lecturer in Italian at the University of Kent, UK. His research encompasses visual culture and psychiatry in Italy. He has published a monograph on the theoretical implications of Basaglia's thought, as well as articles on Italian literature, biopolitics, visual culture and psychoanalysis Preface Contents Notes on Contributors List of Contributors Chapter 1: Introduction: Social and Mental Alienation in Italy Between the Economic Miracle and the Years of Lead 1.1 Social Alienation 1.1.1 Alienation, Society, and Literature: Theoretical Perspectives 1.1.2 Industrial Literature and the New Avant-Garde 1.2 Mental Alienation and the Asylum 1.2.1 Philosophical Coordinates: Subjective and Social Alienation 1.2.2 Mental Alienation Represented 1.3 Summary of Chapters References Filmography Part I: Spaces of Alienation Chapter 2: Into the De/Construction of the Psychiatric Space References Chapter 3: Doctor in Slaughter: Emilio De Rossignoli’s Dialectic of Enlightenment References Part II: Workers at Olivetti Chapter 4: Volponi–Ottieri–Olivetti and the Ills of Homo industrialis: Returning to a “Civiltà della natura” as a Questionable Antidote to the Urban–Industrial Malaise 4.1 Matera: “Capitale del mondo contadino” 4.2 Alienation in Industry and the Factory: Not Only an Urban Ill References Chapter 5: “Sentirsi Scorticati Vivi.” The Theme of Alienation in Ottiero Ottieri’s Works References Chapter 6: Paolo Volponi’s Memoriale: Industry Between Alienation and Utopia 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Volponi, Olivetti, and the Dream of an Orderly Industry 6.3 Beyond Industrial Alienation 6.4 Inside Albino Saluggia’s Memoriale 6.5 Concluding Remarks References Part III: Psychoanalysis and Alienation Chapter 7: Alienation and Psychoanalysis: Some Notes on Italy in the Years of the Economic Miracle 7.1 Psychoanalysis, Ideology, and Politics in Italy: An Overview 7.2 Alienation in the Years of the Miracle 7.3 Psychoanalysis and the Economic Boom: Depersonalization and Industrial Alienation 7.4 Conclusion References Chapter 8: Psychoanalysis in Milan in the Age of Dis-alienation: The Case of Elvio Fachinelli 8.1 Introduction 8.2 The Interweaving of Political, Social, and Personal Contexts in Milan During the 1970s 8.3 Fachinelli, Ferenczi, Lacan 8.4 Fachinelli’s Passion for Freud 8.5 Reciprocity and Social Criticism 8.6 L’erba voglio: Social Psychoanalysis 8.7 Psychoanalysis as a Modern Practice References Chapter 9: From the Factory to the Asylum... and Back: A Lacanian Perspective on the Cinematic Representation of Alienation in Elio Petri’s La classe operaia va in paradiso 9.1 The Alienation of the Working Class Between Subjectivity and Social Reality 9.2 “L’individuo è uguale alla fabbrica!” 9.3 From a Tool to a Fool 9.4 Breaking Down the Wall: Is There a Way Out? References Filmography Part IV: The Asylum Chapter 10: Manicomiche: Madness, Language and the Dismantling of the Asylum in Gianni Celati’s Comiche 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Origins of Comiche 10.3 Celati and the Antipsychiatric Movement 10.4 The Political Dimension of the Bagarre: Artaud, Bakhtin, Céline 10.5 A New Reading of Comiche References Chapter 11: Mental, Social, and Visual Alienation in D’Alessandro’s Photography 11.1 Alienation According to Basaglia 11.2 Mental Alienation: “Il mondo degli esclusi” 11.3 Social Alienation: Gli esclusi 11.3.1 Hands 11.3.2 Idleness 11.3.3 Interaction and Action 11.3.4 Intimacy, Abandonment, and Despair 11.3.5 Visual Alienation 11.4 Conclusion References Chapter 12: “L’alienato nella cella è libero.” Mario Tobino Between Le libere donne di Magliano and Per le antiche scale 12.1 Introduction 12.2 Tobino and Basaglia: What Is Madness? 12.3 The Captive Human Beasts of Magliano 12.4 Conclusions: The Psychiatrist’s Gaze References Correction to: The Years of Alienation in Italy Index