Italian literature: the best writers and works

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Italian literature occupies an important place in the culture of Europe. This happened despite the fact that the Italian language itself acquired literary outlines quite late, around the 1250s. This was due to the strong influence of Latin in Italy, where it was most widely used. Schools, which were predominantly secular in nature, taught Latin everywhere. Only when it was possible to get rid of this influence did authentic literature begin to take shape.

Renaissance

The first famous works of Italian literature date back to the Renaissance. When the arts flourish all over Italy, literature struggles 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 literature of the eraRenaissance sets the tone for all of Europe. And this is not surprising.

Dante is considered to be 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, which gave a full analysis of late medieval culture.

In Italian literature, Dante remained a poet and thinker who was constantly looking for something fundamentally new and different from everyday life. He had a muse that he worshiped named Beatrice. This love, in the end, received a mysterious and even some kind of mystical meaning. After all, he filled each of his works with it. 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 story "New Life", which told about love, which renewed the main character, forcing him to take a different look at everything around. It was composed of canzones, sonnets and prose stories.

Dante devoted a lot of time to political treatises. But his main work is still The Divine Comedy. This is a vision of the afterlife, a very popular genre in Italian literature at that time. The poem is an allegorical building in which the dense forest, where the main character is lost, represents human sins and delusions, and the strongest passions are pride, voluptuousness and greed.

The character of the "Divine Comedy" together with the guide goes on a journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise.

The most completean idea 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 the most famous lyric poets of Italy - Francesco Petrarch. He lived in the XIV century, was a prominent representative of the generation of humanists. Interestingly, he wrote not only in Italian, but also in Latin. Moreover, he gained world fame precisely thanks to Italian poetry, which he treated with a certain amount of disdain during his lifetime.

In these works, he regularly refers to his beloved named Laura. The reader from Petrarch's sonnets will learn that they first met in the church in 1327, and exactly 21 years later she was gone. Even after that, Petrarch continued to sing it for ten years.

In addition to poems dedicated to love for Laura, these Italian cycles contain works of a religious and political nature. Italian literature of the Renaissance is perceived by many through the prism of Petrarch's poetry.

Giovanni Boccaccio

Another prominent representative of the Italian Renaissance 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 based on subjects from ancient mythology, actively used the psychological story genre in his work.

His main work was a collection of short stories"Decameron", one of the most striking works of Italian literature of the Renaissance. The short stories in this book, as critics note, are imbued with humanistic ideas, the spirit of free thought, humor and cheerfulness, reflect the full palette of Italian society, contemporary to the author.

"The Decameron" is a collection of one hundred stories that seven ladies and 13 men tell each other. They flee during the plague that has swept the country to a remote estate in the countryside, where they expect to wait out the epidemic.

All stories are presented in an easy and elegant language, the narrative breathes diversity and life's truth. Boccaccio uses a large number of artistic techniques in these short stories, depicting people of various characters, ages and conditions.

Love, which Boccaccio draws, is fundamentally different from the ideas of romantic relationships in Petrarch and Dante. Giovanni has a burning passion that borders on the erotic, rejecting established family values. The literature of the Italian Renaissance is largely based on the Decameron.

Writers from other countries also played a great influence. Italian and French literature of the Renaissance developed very quickly and dynamically, also represented by such names as Francois 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 seascapes. The Marinists are led by Giambattista Marino. His most famous work- 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 odes. In the same row, it is necessary to mention the poet Vincenzo Filicaia.

Interestingly, the fundamental difference between these schools lies in technical tricks and issues related to the form of the work.

About the same time, a circle appears in Naples, from which the Arcadian Academy emerges, to which many famous poets and satirists of the period belong.

Carlo Goldoni

In the 18th century, after a period of stagnation, a bright representative of Italian classical literature, Carlo Goldoni, was born. He is a playwright and librettist. He has more than 250 plays to his credit.

Goldoni's world fame is brought by the comedy "The Servant of Two Masters", which is still included in the repertoire of many theaters around the world. The events of this work unfold in Venice. The protagonist is Truffaldino, a rogue and deceiver who managed to escape from the poor town of Bergamo to rich and successful Venice. There he is hired as a servant to Signor Rasponi, who is in fact a girl in disguise Beatrice. In the guise of her dead 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 timeand at first he succeeds.

Giacomo Leopardi

In the 19th century, Italian fiction continues to develop, but there are no big names like Dante or Goldoni. We can note the romantic poet Giacomo Leopardi.

His poems were very lyrical, although he left behind quite a bit - a few 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 colored the entire 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, and he also formulates his worldview in the "Diary of Reflections".

All his life he was in search and always disappointed. He claimed that he needed love, desire, fire and life, but on all positions 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 oppressed by the idea that Christianity is just an illusion. And since Leopardi was mystical by nature, he often found himself in front of a painful emptiness.

In poetry, he portrayed a sense of true and natural beauty, being an adherent of the ideas of Rousseau.

Leopardi was often called the incarnate poet of world sorrow.

Raffaello Giovagnoli

The classics of Italian literature begins to take shape towards the end of the 19th century. Italian historian andthe novelist writes the novel "Spartacus", dedicated to the gladiator of the same name, who leads the slave uprising that took place in ancient Rome. It is noteworthy that this character is very real.

Besides, Giovagnoli's narrative itself, in addition to historical truth and facts, is intertwined with lyrical plots that did not really exist. For example, in an Italian writer, Spartak falls in love with the patrician Valeria, who treats him favorably.

At the same time, a courtesan from Greece, Eutibida, is in love with Spartacus himself, whose love the protagonist categorically rejects. As a result, it is the offended Eutibida who plays one of the decisive roles in the defeat of Spartacus' troops and in his further death.

The ending is very believable. The slave uprising was really brutally suppressed, 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, of course, she is better known in the interpretation of Alexei Nikolaevich Tolstoy, who wrote "The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Pinocchio".

Collodi himself, originally from Florence, when the Italian war of independence (1848 and 1860) was fought as a volunteer to fight in the army of Tuscany.

Collodi is known not only as a children's author. In 1856, the world saw the light of his novel-essay en titled "The novel in the steam locomotive". Among others, hisiconic works can be noted video novel-feuilleton "Newspapers for children".

Luigi Pirandello

In Italian literature of the 20th century Luigi Pirandello stands out from the rest. 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, with the help of which the author simultaneously revives the art of stage and drama.

"Six characters in search of an 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 a comedy not yet written, as well as actors and theater employees.

The absurd has a great influence on the author. This production 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. They themselves only demand from the author that he write a play for them.

The play is divided into real and fantastic plan. In the first, the characters of a play that has not yet been written act, and in the second, the viewer learns about the tragedy that befalls them.

Pirandello entered his literary activity as the author of the collection "Joyful Pain", popular in 1889. Many of his early poems combine the desire to demonstrate their inner world to others, as well as the spiritual rebellion that opposesthe bleakness of life around. In 1894, the writer released a collection of short stories "Love without Love", and then a collection of "Novels for a Year", in which he sought to combine a demonstration of the inner world of a small person with his spiritual inner rebellion against a hopeless life. Some of the pieces eventually became the basis for several plays by Pirandello.

The writer entered literature as an author who tells about the life of small towns and villages in Sicily, depicting the social strata of the people living there. For example, in the famous short stories "Blessing" and "Happy" he ridicules the clergy, who hide their greed behind ostentatious mercy.

In some of his works, he deliberately departs from Italian traditionalism. So, in the short story "The Black Shawl" focuses on the psychological portrait and actions of the main character, who is an old maid who decided to arrange her life, regardless of the condemnation of others. At the same time, the author, at times, harshly criticizes the social order, when people are ready to do anything for the sake of profit. Public institutions are subjected to such criticism in the short story "Tight tailcoat", in which the professor is invited to the wedding of his student. He witnesses how the girl's future personal life is almost destroyed due to social prejudice.

A similar rebellion is described in the work "Train Whistle". At the center of the story is an accountant who feels dissatisfied with his life under the influence ofminute impulse. Dreaming of travels and wanderings, he realizes how unimportant the life around him is, he is carried away to an illusory world in which he finally loses his mind.

Appear in the work of Pirandello and political motives. Thus, in the short stories "The Fool" and "His Majesty" subtle political intrigues are demonstrated, while showing how petty they often are.

Often the object of criticism is social contradictions. In the short story "Fan", the main character is a poor peasant woman who was abandoned by her beloved, and the mistress simply robbed. She reflects 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 short story "Everything is like with decent people" tells how the hero conquers his beloved with his selfless love, forgiving even the betrayal committed by her.

Pirandello himself often prefers to delve into the psychology of his characters, criticizing social reality and using such a technique as the grotesque. The characters are portrayed with social masks, which they must throw off in the course of the action. For example, in the short story "Some Commitments", the main character is cheated on by his wife. 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 by putting on the social mask of an offended and deceived husband. The lover also wore a mask, but already a respectable official.

Pirandello uses the grotesque very unobtrusively in his works. For example, in the short story "In Silence" reveals the tragedy of a young man who knows all 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, Pirandello wrote six novels during his literary career. In Les Misérables, he criticizes social prejudice and society, depicting 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, he only takes on a new shell, realizing that life outside of society is impossible. He begins to simply be torn between real and fictional, which symbolizes the gap between reality and human perception.

Niccolò Ammaniti

Italian literature of the 21st century is represented by the famous writer, our contemporary Niccolò Ammaniti. He was born in Rome, studied at the Faculty of Biology, but never graduated. It is said that his thesis formed the basis of his first novel,which was called "Gills". The novel was published in 1994. It tells about a boy from Rome who is diagnosed with a tumor. Almost against his will, he finds himself in India, where he constantly finds himself in all kinds of, often unpleasant situations. In 1999, the novel was filmed, but the film did not have much success.

In 1996, a collection of short stories of the writer under the general name "Dirt" was published, among which were such well-known works as "The Last Year of Mankind", "To Live and Die in Prenestine". Based on the story "There will be no holiday", a film was also made, in which the main role was played by Monica Bellucci. In general, many of Ammaniti's works have been filmed more than once.

In 1999, a modern Italian writer releases another of his novels, "I'll pick you up and take you away." Its 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, director Gabriele Salvatores filmed it.

The events of this work unfold in the 70s of the XX century. Michele, 10, lives in a remote Italian province and spends all summer playing games with friends.

One day 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, discovering a boy sitting on a chain there. He supplies the mysterious prisoner with bread and water. The children get to know each other. It turns out thatthe boy's name is Filippo, he was kidnapped for ransom. Michele discovers that the crime was organized by a group of adults, including his own father.

Over and over again, Ammaniti captivates readers with such captivating stories, illustrating what contemporary Italian literature can be like. He writes not only books, but also scripts. So, in 2004, the film "Vanity Serum" was released, based on his story. In 2006, critics reacted inconsistently to his new novel As God Commands. But at the same time, the work receives the approval of the reader community and even the Strega Award. In 2008, the film of the same name is released, again directed by Salvatores.

In 2010, Ammaniti writes the novel "Me and You", Bernardo Bertolucci is already bringing it to life on the screen. Moreover, the maestro returns to filming a movie after a 7-year break, becoming interested in the plot of Ammaniti.

Among his latest works, it is necessary to highlight the popular collection of short stories "A Delicate Moment" and the novel "Anna", which became the seventh in his creative biography.