Some specific events in Italian literature between the wars

Abstract

As indicated by the title, the author isolates a number of events that took place in Italian literature during the period between the wars: Cardarelli's "rondic" circle, a poem by Ungaretti, two of Montale's poems; Italo Svevo's novel La coscienza di Zeno, Alberto Moravia's Gli indifferenti, Elio Vittorini's Conversazione in Sicilia and the success of Ugo Betti's dramatic work. Using a synthetic interpretation of these events, the author underlines their specificity but also their universal value and message; he judges that through these works Italian literature, out of a social milieu in the clutches of totalitarianism, perseveres, in accordance with its fine tradition, to emit signals of a refined engagement for the cause of artistic and permanent human values.