Italian literature occupies an important place in the culture of Europe. This happened despite the fact that the Italian language itself acquired literary outlines rather late, around the 1250s. This was due to the strong influence of Latin in Italy, where it was most widely used. Schools that were mostly secular in nature taught Latin everywhere. Only when they managed to free themselves from this influence did authentic literature begin to form.
Renaissance
The first famous works of Italian literature belong to the Renaissance. When art flourishes throughout Italy, literature is trying to keep up. Several world-famous names belong to this period at once - Francesco Petrarca, Giovanni Boccaccio, Dante Alighieri. At that time, Italian and French Renaissance literature set the tone for all of Europe. And this is not surprising.
Dante is rightfully considered the founder of the Italian literary language. He lived and worked at the turn of the XIII-XIV centuries. His most famous work was The Divine Comedy, in which a full analysis of late medieval culture was given.
In Italian literature, Dante remained a poet and thinker who was constantly looking for something fundamentally new and different from everyday. He had a muse, which he worshiped, named Beatrice. This love, in the end, got a mysterious and even some kind of mystical meaning. After all, he filled it with every his work. The idealized image of this woman is one of the key in the works of Dante.
Fame came to him after the release of the novel "New Life", which described the love that renewed the main character, which made him take a different look at everything around him. It was composed of canzon, sonnets and prosaic stories.
Dante also devoted much time to political treatises. But his main work is still "The Divine Comedy." This is an afterlife vision, a very popular genre at that time in Italian literature. The poem is an allegorical building in which the dense forest, where the protagonist is lost, represents human sins and delusions, and the most powerful passions are pride, voluptuousness and covetousness.
The character of the Divine Comedy, along with the guide, goes on a journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise.
The most complete picture of the writers and works of this country can be compiled from the Mokulsky encyclopedia. Italian literature based on this study appears in all its glory.
Francesco Petrarch
One of Italy's most famous lyric poets is Francesco Petrarch. He lived in the XIV century, was a prominent representative of the generation of humanists. It is interesting that he wrote not only in Italian, but also in Latin. Moreover, he gained world fame precisely thanks to Italian poems, which during his life belonged with a certain amount of neglect.
In these works, he regularly refers to his lover named Laura. A reader from the Petrarch sonnets learns that they first met in the church in 1327, and exactly 21 years later she was gone. Even after this, Petrarch continued to chant her for ten years.
In addition to poems dedicated to the love of Laura, these Italian cycles contain religious and political works. Italian Renaissance literature is perceived by many through the prism of Petrarch poetry.
Giovanni Boccaccio
Another striking representative of the Italian Renaissance period in literature is Giovanni Boccaccio. He had a significant impact on the development of all European culture with his works. Boccaccio wrote a large number of poems on subjects from ancient mythology, actively used the genre of psychological story in his work.
His main work was the collection of short stories "The Decameron", one of the most striking works of Italian Renaissance literature. Novels in this book, as critics note, are imbued with humanistic ideas, a spirit of free-thinking, humor and cheerfulness, reflect the full palette of Italian society, a contemporary author.
The Decameron is a collection of one hundred stories that tell each other seven ladies and 13 men. They flee during the plague that swept the country, to a remote estate in the village, in which they expect to wait out the epidemic.
All stories are laid out in a light and elegant language; the narrative breathes diversity and the truth of life. Boccaccio uses a large number of artistic techniques in these short stories, portraying people of all sorts of characters, ages and conditions.
The love that Boccaccio draws is radically different from Petrarch and Dante's ideas about romantic relationships. Giovanni has a burning passion, bordering on eroticism, rejecting established family values. The literature of the Italian Renaissance is largely based on the Decameron.
A great influence was played by writers of other states. Italian and French Renaissance literature developed very quickly and dynamically, also represented by such names as François Rabelais, Pierre de Ronsard and many others.
XVII century
The next important stage is the development of Italian literature of the 17th century. At that time, there were two schools in the country - Pindarists and Marinists. Marinistov is led by Giambattista Marino. His most famous work is the poem Adonis.
The second school of literature in Italian was founded by Gabriello Chiabrera. He was a very prolific author, from whose pen came a large number of pastoral plays, epic poems and od. In the same row, it is imperative to mention the poet Vincenzo Filicaya.
Interestingly, the fundamental difference between these schools lies in technical tricks and issues related to the form of the work.
Around the same time, a circle appeared in Naples, from which the Arcadian Academy emerged, to which many famous poets and satirists of that period belong.
Carlo Goldoni
In the XVIII century, after a period of certain stagnation, a bright representative of Italian classical literature, Carlo Goldoni, was born . He is a playwright and a librettist. On his account more than 250 plays.
Goldoni brings world fame to the comedy "The Servant of Two Masters", which is still included in the repertoire of many theaters in the world. The events of this work unfold in Venice. The main character is Truffaldino, a rogue and a liar who managed to escape from the poor town of Bergamo to the rich and successful Venice. There he is hired by a servant to Signor Rasponi, who is actually a disguised girl of Beatrice. Under the guise of her deceased brother, she seeks to find her lover, who, by mistake and because of injustice, is accused of murder and forced to flee Venice.
Truffaldino, who wants to earn as much as possible, serves two masters at the same time, and at first he succeeds.
Giacomo Leopardi
In the 19th century, Italian fiction continued to develop, but such big names as Dante or Goldoni did not occur. We can mention the romantic poet Giacomo Leopardi.
His poems were very lyrical, although he left behind quite a bit - several dozen poems. For the first time they saw the light in 1831 under the single title "Songs". These poems were completely imbued with pessimism, which stained the whole life of the author himself.
Leopardi has not only poetic, but also prose works. For example, "Moral essays." This is the name of his philosophical essay; he also formulates his worldview in the Diary of Reflections.
All his life he was in search and invariably felt disappointment. He claimed that he needed love, desire, fire and life, but in all respects he was wrecked. For most of his life, the poet was disabled, so he could not fully cooperate with foreign universities, although they regularly offered it. He was also depressed by the idea that Christianity was just an illusion. And since Leopardi was mystical in nature, he often faced an excruciating void.
In poetry, he portrayed a sense of true and natural beauty, being an adherent of Rousseau's ideas.
Leopards were often called the incarnate poet of world tribulation.
Raffaello Giovagnoli
The classics of Italian literature begin to take shape by the end of the 19th century. The Italian historian and novelist writes the novel "Spartacus", dedicated to the gladiator of the same name, who leads the revolt of the slaves in ancient Rome. It is noteworthy that this character is very real.
In addition to the story of Giovanyoli, in addition to historical truth and facts, lyrical plots are interwoven, which in reality were not. For example, with an Italian writer, Spartak falls in love with the patrician Valeria, who favors him.
At the same time, the courtesan from Greece Eutibides in love with Spartak himself, whose love the protagonist categorically rejects. As a result, it is the insulted Eutibida who plays one of the decisive roles in the defeat of Spartak’s troops and in his further death.
The ending is very believable. The revolt of the slaves was really brutally crushed, and Spartacus was killed.
Carlo Collodi
Writers from the south of the country have made a great contribution to the development of Italian children's literature. For example, journalist Carlo Collodi writes the famous fairy tale "The Adventures of Pinocchio. The Story of a Wooden Doll". In Russia, she, of course, is better known in the interpretation of Alexei Nikolayevich Tolstoy, who wrote "The Golden Key, or The Adventures of Pinocchio."
Collodi himself came from Florence, when in Italy the war for independence (1848 and 1860) was fought, he volunteered to fight in the Tuscan army.
Collodi is known not only as a children's author. In 1856, the world saw his novel essay entitled "A Romance in a Steam Train". Among his other iconic works, one can note the video novel feuilleton “Newspapers for Children”.
Luigi Pirandello
In Italian literature of the 20th century, it stands out from the rest of Luigi Pirandello. This is an Italian playwright and writer, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1934. Modern Italian literature in the person of Pirandello is a fascinating and inventive narrative, through which the author simultaneously revives stage and dramatic art.
"Six characters in search of the author" is one of the most mysterious works in the history of Italian literature. In the libretto for the play, the characters are divided into characters of an unpublished comedy, as well as actors and employees of the theater.
Absurdity has a great influence on the author. This statement demonstrates the contradictions that arise between everyday life and art, this example demonstrates the social tragedy of people who are powerless to resist the masks imposed on them by society. Themselves only require the author to write a play for them.
The play is divided into a real and fantastic plan. In the first, the characters of the play have not yet been written, and already in the second, the viewer learns about the tragedy that befalls them.
Pirandello entered the literary activity as the author of the collection "Joyful Pain", popular in 1889. Many of his early poems combine the desire to demonstrate to others his inner world, as well as spiritual rebellion, which opposes the hopelessness of life around him. In 1894, the writer released a collection of short stories, “Love Without Love,” followed by a collection of Short Stories for a Year, in which he sought to combine a demonstration of the inner world of a small man with his spiritual inner revolt against a hopeless life. Some works as a result became the basis for several pieces of Pirandello.
The writer entered the literature as an author, telling about the life of small towns and villages in Sicily, depicting the social layers of the people living there. For example, in the famous short stories “Blessing” and “Lucky”, he makes fun of representatives of the clergy who hide their greed behind ostentatious mercy.
In some of his works, he deliberately departs from Italian traditionalism. So, in the novel "Black Shawl" focuses on the psychological portrait and actions of the main character, who is an old maid who decided to arrange her life, despite the condemnation of others. At the same time, the author, at times, severely criticizes public order, when people are ready to do anything for the sake of profit. Public institutions are subjected to such criticism in the short story "Close Coat", in which the professor is invited to the wedding of his student. He becomes a witness of how the girl’s future personal life is almost destroyed due to public prejudice.
A similar riot is described in the work "Train Whistle." At the center of the story is the bookkeeper, who feels dissatisfaction with his life under the influence of a momentary impulse. Dreaming of travels and wanderings, he understands how unimportant the life around him is, he is carried away into an illusory world in which he finally loses his mind.
Political motifs also appear in Pirandello's work. So, in the short stories “The Fool” and “His Majesty” subtle political intrigues are shown, while it is shown how petty they are often.
Often the object of criticism is social contradictions. In the novel “Veer” the main character is a poor peasant woman who was abandoned by her beloved, and the mistress simply robbed. She speculates that suicide is the only way to solve all her problems.
At the same time, Pirandello remains a humanist, giving the main place in his work to the reality of human feelings. The novel “Everything is like decent people” tells how a hero conquers his beloved with his selfless love, forgiving even her betrayal.
Pirandello himself often prefers to delve into the psychology of his heroes, criticizing social reality and using such a technique as the grotesque. Heroes are portrayed with social masks, which they must reset in the course of action. For example, in the novel "Some Obligations" the wife changes the main character. Her lover is an official from the municipality to whom he comes to complain about his wife’s infidelity. And when he finds out the whole truth, he not only forgives his wife, but also helps her lover. In fact, as the reader understands, he was never jealous of his wife, only putting on a social mask of an abused and deceived husband. Lover also wore a mask, but already a respectable official.
Pirandello very unobtrusively uses grotesque in his works. For example, in the novel "In Silence" it reveals the tragedy of a young man who knew the cruelty of the world, which leads him to a sad and even tragic ending. He is forced to commit suicide and kill his younger brother.
In total, during his literary career, Pirandello wrote six novels. In The Les Miserables, he criticizes social prejudice and society, portraying a woman who herself is trying to become an object of criticism from others.
And in his most famous novel, “The late Mattia Pascal,” he demonstrates the emerging contradiction between the true face of a person living in modern society and his social mask. His hero decides to start life from scratch, arranging everything so that others consider him dead. But as a result, it only takes on a new shell, realizing that life outside of society is impossible. He begins to simply be torn between himself real and fictional, which symbolizes the gap between real reality and the perception of man.
Niccolo Ammaniti
Italian literature of the 21st century is represented by a famous writer, our contemporary Niccolo Ammaniti. He was born in Rome, studied at the Faculty of Biology, but never graduated from it. It is said that his thesis formed the basis of his first novel, which was called "Gills". Rohman was published in 1994. It tells about a boy from Rome who has a tumor. Almost against his will, he finds himself in India, where he constantly finds himself in various, often unpleasant situations. In 1999, the novel was filmed, but the film did not have much success.
In 1996, a collection of short stories by the writer was published under the general title “Dirt,” among which were such well-known works as “The Last Year of Mankind,” “Live and Die in Prenestino.” According to the story “There will be no holiday”, a film was also shot, in which Monica Bellucci played the main role. In general, many of Ammaniti’s work have been repeatedly filmed.
In 1999, a contemporary Italian writer released another of his novel, "I Will Take You and Take You Away." His actions take place in a fictional city located in central Italy. But the real glory comes to him in 2001. Thundered his novel "I'm Not Afraid." Two years later, the director Gabriele Salvatores filmed it.
The events of this work unfold in the 70s of the XX century. In a remote Italian province lives 10-year-old Michele, who spends all summer in games with friends.
Once they find themselves near an abandoned house, where there is a mysterious pit, covered with a lid on top. Without telling anyone about her, the next day Michele returns to his find, finding a boy sitting on a chain there. He supplies the mysterious prisoner with bread and water. Children get to know each other. It turns out that the boy’s name is Filippo, he was kidnapped in order to obtain a ransom. Michele finds out that the crime was organized by a group of adults, including his own father.
Ammaniti repeatedly captivates readers with such exciting stories, illustrating what modern Italian literature can be. He writes not only books, but also scripts. So, in 2004, the film "Vanity Serum" was released, shot on its history. In 2006, critics controversially perceived his new novel, "As God Orders." But at the same time, the work receives the approval of the readership and even the Strega award. In 2008, the film of the same name was released, which again shoots Salvatores.
In 2010, Ammaniti wrote the novel "You and I", it is already embodied on the screen by Bernardo Bertolucci. Moreover, the maestro returns to the filming of the movie after a 7-year break, becoming interested in the plot of Ammaniti.
Among his recent works, it is necessary to highlight the popular collection of short stories "Delicate moment" and the novel "Anna", which became the seventh in his creative biography.