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The Italian literature which came to life in the Eighties broke with the tradition of the preceding period during which fiction was but a fertile ground for social criticism. Furthermore, the new literary scene came to be dominated mainly by unknown young writers, who had come of age in a decisively new and modern social setting in Italy. / This thesis aims at presenting the writers that make up most of the "Giovane Narrativa" of the Eighties. It also presents the main aspects of the social and economic development in Italy after the war and their relevance to this generation of young writers.

The object of this thesis is to study the monologue, a dramatic genre that re-emerged on the Spanish literary scene in the 1970s. Despite the fact that a number of well-known Iberian playwrights have cultivated this genre assiduously over the past three decades, their work has received relatively little critical attention from either academic or theatre circles. What is sought here, therefore, is the means to demonstrate the importance and richness of the monologue as an autonomous dramatic creation. To do this it was necessary to establish a sufficiently large corpus--some eighty long and short monologues--and identify those particular conventions and the structural diversity that would make possible the formulation of a theory of connected language functions in the monologue by adapting existing theoretical principles to the study of this singular genre. The application of this theoretical construct enabled me to determine the nature of the functions of expression, communication and persuasion present in the discourse of a single speaker. / Specifically, in considering the function of expression I reflect both upon the coherent discourse that derives from the (exterior) verbalization of (interior) thought and emotion, and upon the objectives and consequences of such expressions of the mental and emotional states of the individual. Secondly, I focus attention on the same verbal discourse inasmuch as it reflects the complex function of communication manifested in both an immanent and in a transcendental form. Such complexity derives from the fact that, if verbal discourse here is enunciated either in isolation or before an interiorized addressee (a fictional being), it is always emitted in the "presence" of an external addressee (the theatre audience/or reader). Finally, my study of the function of persuasion underscores the idea of empowerment: the authority of the word that is wielded by the monologist upon his/her addressee(s), a verbal manipulation that takes place both within the fictional world and beyond. / In short, this thesis seeks to show how the monologue as a fictional dramatic genre questions the viability of interpersonal relationships.

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This study provides an overview of the literature of the Italian-speaking regions of Switzerland. It presents well-known authors but also lesser-known writers who have made an important contribution to the literature of the Ticino and Grigioni cantons. Dating from the 1960s to the present, the corpus bears witness to a remarkable vitality and innovative spirit, which on occasion overflow political borders and find their way into the much larger Italian market. The dynamism of local publishers has contributed to focusing attention on the high quality and importance of the literature produced by Swiss authors writing in Italian. The distinctive character of this literature lies in the unique combination of disparate factors. Italian language, Swiss culture, and European concerns interact with emotional ties to the local communities in a rich social context marked by past misery and a present characterized by advanced capitalism. / The choice of authors is based on the desire to trace the evolution of narrative literature during the last four decades and present a wide range of themes and styles. In addition to the renowned Giovanni Orelli, this study considers the equally important works of writers such as Alberto Nessi, Claudio Nembrini, Anna Felder, Elda Guidinetti, Silvana Lattmann, Ennio Maccagno, among others. Very young writers whose first efforts are shaping the future of Swiss literature in Italian are also examined. / A special chapter is devoted to women writers. The goal is to identify the style and set of themes which distinguish their contribution from that of their colleagues. The study also discusses the importance of their presence on the literary scene after a time, not so far in the past, when women were confined to writing, in dialect, diaries and letters to relatives who had emigrated. / The discussion of the corpus is prefaced by a detailed presentation of the geographical, social and political context which often determines the literary outcome. The importance of this context has also influenced the way in which the texts are approached. The narratives studied reflect and interpret the problems society was facing at a particular time, as well as the intellectual movements that characterize each period. A chronological presentation of each individual author would have fragmented the dynamic background from which his or her works emerge and within which such works must be located. The name of an author will therefore resurface in different contexts when one of his or her works is discussed in connection with the given period or intellectual movement under examination. The literary history of each author, however, can be easily reconstructed through an attentive reading. What emerges at the end of the study is a widened field of knowledge for Italian studies, whose object can no longer be seen to coincide with the literary production within the borders of the Italian state.

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Soviet literature of the twenties and thirties is examined in the present study in its relationship to other verbal genres, primarily, the speeches of Party leaders, newspaper rhetoric and political posters. The first four chapters of the dissertation focus on such topics as the reception of Marxist-Leninist discourse by peasants and workers as well as its representation in fiction; the refraction of official discursive formulas in characters' speech and the dialogization of Party rhetoric; the integration of political documents into fiction and their structural function. Particular attention is paid to the way the contamination of Party rhetoric by substandard language and its contextual defamiliarization lead, depending on the overall authorial intention, either to a parodic subversion of official cliches or to the internalization of didactic discourse and the enhancement of its communicative effectiveness. / The theme of industrialization is examined in the last two chapters of the thesis in its dialectic interaction with various Neo-Rousseauist conceptions, which either reflect the authors' own ambivalence about socialist construction, or constitute a rhetorical device used in order to reinforce dialogically industrialist ideology.

Errata pasted in front end-papers. / Bibliography: leaves 410-432. / ix, 432 leaves ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Linguistics, 1997?