1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910455663703321

Autore

Klopp Charles

Titolo

Sentences : the memoirs and letters of Italian political prisoners from Benvenuto Cellini to Aldo Moro / / Charles Klopp

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Toronto, [Ontario] ; ; Buffalo, [New York] ; ; London, [England] : , : University of Toronto Press, , 1999

©1999

ISBN

1-282-03715-3

9786612037153

1-4426-7978-6

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (293 p.)

Collana

Toronto Italian Studies

Disciplina

850.9/9206927

Soggetti

Political prisoners' writings, Italian - History and criticism

Political prisoners - Italy - Intellectual life

Politics and literature - Italy - History

Liberty in literature

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction: Writing As Survival -- 1. Predecessors: Prison Writing before 1800 -- 2. The Spielberg: Concealment and Refutation -- 3. Bodies Politic -- 4. Authority, Desire, and Dissent: Serving the Revolution -- 5. Answering Gramsci: The Anti-Fascists -- 6. The Death of a President / The Effacement of an Author -- Conclusion: Sentences and Convictions -- Notes -- Works Consulted -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Although there exist a number of studies on prison writing from various countries, Sentences is the first comprehensive examination of autobiographical prison literature from Italy. Klopp has assembled a gallery of fascinating portraits in this chronological survey of prison writings by more than three dozen Italian political figures and intellectuals - including Cellini, Casanova, Tasso, the Martyrs of Mantua, Enrichetta Caracciolo, Gramsci - all of whom were imprisoned for their political convictions. Drawing on prison writings from periods



that include the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the Risorgimento, the rise of socialism and women's rights, and the years of Fascism, Sentences makes a valuable contribution to social and political history.Through clear and sensitive analysis of sample passages Klopp is able to draw insightful conclusions, pointing out the rich intertextual allusions among these diverse prison texts. This survey of writers from different centuries, who espoused very different political points of view, reveals common traits that unite these otherwise dissimilar individuals. A final chapter discussing letters composed by Aldo Moro while he was held hostage by the terrist Red Brigades in the 1970s is especially provocative because it places him within the tradition of writing by individuals imprisoned by the state.