The Italian Language

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The Fascist Era

The Fascist dictatorship of the ’20s, ’30s and early ’40s condemned Italian intellectuals to conform; free expression was banned. Out of this wasteland there emerged a movement inspired by the magazine La Ronda. The writers of this movement, Emilio Cecchi (1884-1966), Bruno Barilli (1880-1952) and Vincenzo Cardarelli (1887-1959) produced literature acceptable to the authorities. Another writer linked to this group, but distinguished by a greater originality, was Riccardo Bacchelli (1891-1985).

A rival group of authors wrote for another magazine, Solaria.

The most interesting literary movement of the Fascist era was constituted by unofficial literature, which focused on lesser-known aspects of contemporary Italy. The major authors were Ignazio Silone (1900- 1978) whose novels were at first published outside Italy, Corrado Alvaro (1895 -1956) and Alberto Moravia (1907-1990). Starting with Gli Indifferenti, he developed an acute psychological analysis of contemporary man and the crisis of his values. Other writers are Piero Gobetti (1901- 1926) and Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937), whose writings are of primarily political interest.

		The Fascist period saw the rise of the Hermetic Movement. Its principal poets were Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888-1970), Eugenio Montale (1896-1981), winner of the Noble Prize winner in 1975 and the early Salvatore Quasimodo (1901-1968), winner of the 1959 Nobel Prize. Montale and Ungaretti gradually refined their style, though losing in the process the existential analysis of the movement, while Quasimodo eventually abandoned it. Their aim was to write pure lyric poetry, free from any narrative or descriptive content, a poetry that would be an immediate and total expression of man and his surroundings. Their recurring themes are the suffering caused by the crisis of values of modern civilization, the desperate solitude of man and the disturbing conclusion that life is inherently sad. Their use of language was also revolutionary, with words taking on new and suggestive analogies.
Giuseppe Ungaretti

A poet to stand apart from this group was Umberto Saba (1883-1957), who wrote a in more traditional vein.