L’objectif de la thèse de doctorat dont le titre Fenoglio et ses noms. Une onomastique presque néoréaliste est le catalogage complet et l’analyse du répertoire onomastique des œuvres de Beppe Fenoglio. Nous nous proposons de présenter un nouveau parcours interprétatif de l’œuvre de Fenoglio en raison de l’actualité de ses textes qui, contant les histoires de personnes impliquées dans le drame de la guerre, dévoilent une Résistance quotidienne profondément empreinte d’une humanitas dénuée de tout héroïsme. La relecture critique des écrits fénogliens devient ainsi un moyen de revisiter dans le contexte culturel d’aujourd’hui les valeurs fondamentales que la Résistance avait su inspirer naguère. La nominatio fénolienne est d’ailleurs, en raison, aussi bien de la quantité que de la diversité des noms qui la constituent, un vrai univers qui se prête parfaitement à une étude comme celle-ci, toute référence onomastique étant motivée, voulue par l’auteur désireux d’expérimenter pour enrichir la diégèse.Dans le chapitre 2.0 Noms, biographie et nombres nous présenterons l’auteur, en passant en revue les noms des personnes qu’il avait rencontrées lors des moments les plus saillants de sa vie qu’on peut retrouver dans n’importe quelle biographie. Nous examinerons ensuite le profil onomastique de ses textes à travers une étude statistique.Dans le chapitre 3.0 Noms, langue et personnes, nous mettrons l’accent sur les implications linguistiques, historiques, sociologiques et anthropologiques du nom envisagé sur son plan formel. Nous analyserons tous les usages particuliers des éléments onomastiques ce qui contribuera à encadrer linguistiquement l’œuvre de Fenoglio dans le contexte social de son époque. Nous fournirons notamment des informations sur l’origine et la diffusion des anthroponymes ainsi que sur l’utilisation des toponymes en fonction de leur origine géographique. Dans ce chapitre, nous traiterons également de manière rigoureuse les plus importants éléments onomastiques caractéristiques de ces textes à savoir les noms de guerre. Il s’agira d’anthroponymes (tantôt de surnoms, tantôt de pseudonymes) à travers lesquels tout résistant se trouvait identifié à l’intérieur de l’univers des partisans. Nous confronterons enfin les noms susmentionnés aux répertoires réels de noms de partisans dans lesquels figurent toutes les données biographiques de ceux qui combattirent dans les Langhes. Nous clorons le chapitre par une section analytique de Il partigiano Johnny, dans laquelle le texte se trouvera soumis à une étude de linguistique quantitative portant sur l’utilisation de langues étrangères dans la prose italienne. Nous aurons de nouveau recours à cette approche en l’appliquant au répertoire onomastique et en la confrontant à notre analyse générale afin de comprendre s’il existe des règles communes concernant la manière dont fonctionnent les emprunts à divers niveaux de la langue.Le chapitre 4.0 Noms, variantes et éditions est un chapitre d’étude, c’est-à-dire une analyse philologique des variantes onomastiques relevées dans différentes éditions des œuvres de Fenoglio. Nous avons décidé de diviser cette partie en quatre sous-parties dont trois consisteront à mettre en relation différents types de textes. Après une introduction portant sur les résultats de la confrontation des versions provisoires des romans, nous procéderons à l’analyse des textes dans lesquels est racontée l’épopée de Johnny compte tenu de leur rédactions préparatoires incertaines (il s’agit notamment de Primavera di bellezza et de Il partigiano Johnny) qui, selon le projet initial de Fenoglio devraient constituer une œuvre unique sur la vie de ce personnage : de son adolescence jusqu’à la décision de prendre le maquis. Dans un deuxième temps, nous opérerons la même analyse que celle appliquée à la section précédente tout en traitant les romans qui parlent de Milton (L’imboscata et Una questione privata) ainsi que leurs versions préliminaires. / The aim of the doctoral thesis titled Fenoglio and his names. An almost neorealist onomastics concerns the full cataloguing and analysis of onomastic repertoire in Beppe Fenoglio’s novels. The Thesis propose to introduce a new interpretive trail on Fenoglio’s works because of the modernity of his texts. They tell the stories of people involved in the tragedy of war and reveal a daily resistance deeply imbued with a humanitas which lacks heroism. Thus the critical review of Beppe Fenoglio’s literature becomes a way of revisiting the core values inspired lately by the Resistance in today’s cultural context. The Fenoglio’s nominatio is also characterized by a large, varied amount of names constituting a real world that lends itself to a study such as this one, considering that any onomastic reference is motivated by the author’s willing to experiment and to enrich the diegetic profile of his works.In Chapter 2.0 Names, biography and numbers the author is presented by reviewing the names of people he met during the most salient moments of his life which can be found in any biography. Then the onomastic profile of his texts are examined through a statistical study.In Chapter 3.0 Names, language and people, the focus turns to the historical, sociological and anthropological linguistic implications of the name proposed by his formal plan. All specific uses of onomastic elements are analysed, which will help to linguistically frame Fenoglio’s works in the social context of his time. Information is provided, such as the origin and diffusion of anthroponyms, as well as the use of names according to their geographical origin. In this chapter, the largest onomastic elements are dealt with, so characteristic of these texts, to discover the names of war. Namely anthroponyms (sometimes nicknames, sometimes pseudonyms) in which every resistant was identified within the world of the partisans. Finally, the previously mentioned names are compared with real partisans’ names, to understand which group contains all the biographical data of those who fought in the Langhe. The chapter ends with an analytical section from Il partigiano Johnny, in which the text is subject of a quantitative linguistic study about the use of foreign languages in Italian prose. This approachis used once more by applying it to onomastics and comparing it to our general analysis to understand whether there are common rules on how loans work at various levels of language.Section 4.0 Names, variants and editions is a chapter of study, that is to say, a philological analysis of onomastic variants found in different editions of Fenoglio’s works. It is divided into four parts: three of these parts relate different types of texts. After an introduction on the results of the comparison of novels, to the section continues onto the analysis of texts in which the saga of Johnny is told, considering their uncertain preparatory essays (these include Primavera di bellezza and Il partigiano Johnny). These preparatory texts, according to Fenoglio’s initial draft, should have been a unique work about the life of this character: his teens until the decision to go underground. In a second step, the same analysis as that applied in the previous section is operated, while dealing with novels that talk about Milton (Una questione privata and L’imboscata) and their drafts. The final section is devoted to a comparative analysis relating this time to rural novels.

This thesis focuses on the unusual phenomenon of exile from a frontier land, as it is explored by the work of the Istrian writer Fulvio Tomizza. It deals with the diaspora from Istria, a territory at the intersection of different civilizations – the Italian and the Croat-Slovenian – which has historically shaped a mixture of cultures and languages, remarkable for its hybridity. The massive exile which took place at the end of the Second World War, after the redefinition of the Italo-Yugoslav border, presents original features which, by taking advantage of the narrative tool, overturn traditional parameters attributed to exile. Focusing on Fulvio Tomizza’s novels Materada, La ragazza di Petrovia and L’albero dei sogni, and also on some of his most significant essays, I will seek to outline the specific traits that typify the detachment from one’s own native country. In particular, I shall suggest that identity and idioms are called into question even before characters have left their homeland. In addition, exile begins with a clarification of characters’ sense of belonging, which inevitably leads them to split, making the choice of whether to abandon the home country even more complicated. Once abroad, characters will develop a deep sense of estrangement, dictated by the impossibility of fitting into any other context, which will eventually drive them to a double, parallel, unsuccessful exile. In order to investigate fully the characteristics of Fulvio Tomizza’s exile, I will employ some linguistic postulates to examine the bilingualism and diglossia of the origins. The theoretical approaches of Edward Said, Sigmund Freud and Julia Kristeva will be used to inform my analysis of the more subtle mechanisms which rule exile, starting with doubleness and examining the dynamics which commonly characterize the exilic experience, including those in relation to the elaboration of the narrative itself. The novelty of this work lies in its approach to exile without preconceived arguments, which run the risk of limiting the analysis of the topic, and in the exploration of the most crucial aspects of a frontier land shaken by a territorial redefinition. This thesis also aims to reallocate the figure of Fulvio Tomizza, who has as yet not been investigated in any significant manner, most often being neglected or misunderstood. The aim is also to highlight one of the most European writers of the Italian second Novecento and his relationship with Eastern European languages and literatures.

This thesis interpolates medieval and modern authors and theorists, namely Dante, Petrarch, and Proust on the one hand, and Freud, Kristeva, and Derrida on the other. I propose that these writers are intimately connected and differentiated by their meditations on grief and loss. I compare, confront, and contrast these narratives of mourning in a discursive shuttling to and fro between medieval and modern, French and Italian, and literature and theory, in order to delineate the specificities of different forms of melancholia as legible in Dante’s Commedia, Petrarch’s Canzoniere, and Proust’s A la recherche du temps perdu, and as illuminated by Freudian melancholia, Kristeva’s Soleil noir, and Derrida’s concept of ‘demi-deuil’. I challenge the homogeny of the modern concept of melancholia and juxtapose it with the medieval sin of acedia in Dante (Inferno VII) and Petrarch (considering both the Secretum and the Canzoniere). From the examples of the treatment of the myth of Orpheus and the book of Lamentations, I argue that discourses of mourning are trapped in a fruitful tension between a desire for uniqueness or originality and a desire for legibility or the comfort of communality. In Girardian terms, I define literary representations of mourning as ‘mimetic’, that is, caught in a web of intertextual imitation and preoccupations of genre and tradition which are at odds with a quest for new forms of writing. Finally, I contend that the relationship between content and form is particularly close in grief-stricken texts, and characterise my chosen primary texts – including Dante’s Vita nuova – according to the twin poles of endlessness (which I equate with melancholia) and finitude (the teleological, closed nature of the work of mourning), with a Derridean alternative of unstable oscillation between the two (‘demi-deuil’).

This thesis explores the development of the Bildungsroman in Italian narrative between 1980 and 2011 and focuses, as a case study, on seven novels by three contemporary writers: Pier Vittorio Tondelli, Sandro Veronesi, and Giuseppe Culicchia. By contrasting the idea of an end of the literary genre with the First World War, as theorised by Franco Moretti in The Way of the World (an influential study on the European Bildungsroman published in 1987), this research will aim to demonstrate that contemporary Italian literature still engages with the genre. However, this analysis will show that a traditional coming of age process is no longer possible in contemporary society and will propose a different perspective from which to observe the transition from youth to adulthood – and its representation – in Italy. Acknowledging that the postponement of adulthood has become a common trope to describe this process, this thesis will argue that, instead of a coming of age process, the male young protagonist of the novels selected faces a ‘delaying of age process’, a conscious choice to postpone his entry into an unwelcoming adult world. The first two chapters of this work will establish the methodological background on which the textual analysis conducted in the following two chapters will be based. Chapter One will develop along two complementary lines: on the one hand, by basing my discussion on Moretti’s study, I will trace the origins of the Bildungsroman and identify the elements of continuity and diversity between the traditional examples of the genre in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and its evolution in the twentieth century. On the other hand, I will study the changes undergone by youth over the centuries, especially focusing on the shaping of male identity in the first decades of the twentieth century. Chapter Two will provide the socio-historical framework of this research, drawing a picture of contemporary Italy (from the aftermath of the Second World War), which will discuss the central issues against which the ‘delaying of age process’ will be analysed: generation, family, gender roles, work environment and consumption. In Chapters Three and Four, I will read the narrative texts selected as representing that ‘delaying of age’ trend which I will identify as a specifically Italian way of coming of age in contemporary society. By focusing on the relationship between the male protagonists and the ‘other’, the textual analysis will show new ways of conceiving the process of becoming a man in contemporary Italy.

The present work examines writings by authors of Somali origin in the Italian language. The analysis draws on and critically evaluates Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s concept of minor literature. Firstly, it investigates the different strategies through which these texts insert Somali words within the Italian text. Secondly, it scrutinizes the political engagement of Somali-Italian writings with the issue of racism, and their attempt to show the legacy of colonialism in contemporary Italy. Thirdly, it considers the ways in which these partly autobiographical texts envision a relational, plural and dialogical identity for Somali-Italian characters. In particular, the construction of alternative communities and multiple belongings beyond the dichotomy between Italians and Somalis through means of exclusion and inclusion of other minoritarian groups is analyzed. In conclusion, this work suggests rethinking the ways in which Italian literature is conceived, in order to include “minor” transnational narratives that exceed national paradigms.

This thesis examines the presence of modernist ideas regarding identity, language and narrative in the work of the neglected Sardinian author, Grazia Deledda (1871-1936). It has the overall aim of redefining Deledda’s later work as modernist for she has been disregarded by most critics and is generally classed as a minor, veristic writer. Drawing Deledda out of these restricted interpretations, this thesis demonstrates that Deledda straddles two literary modes, for she matures beyond veristic influences and looks forward to modernist ideas, particularly regarding the complex nature of the self. The thesis approaches Deledda from an entirely new perspective in that it focuses upon the crisis of identity in Deledda’s work, and its construction in the narrative of her novels, and its integral relationship with the theme of language. The theoretical framework of Julia Kristeva, Paul Ricoeur and Adriana Cavarero enables an innovative study of identity as a linguistic and narrative construct in Deledda’s work. I maintain that Deledda’s characters construct, control and understand their identities through their application of language or their command of narrative perspective, voicing their inner selves through linguistic self-expression. This study engages in a close textual analysis of three of Deledda’s key texts. La madre (1920) and Il segreto dell'uomo solitario (1921) illustrate Deledda’s movement away from verismo. Their protagonists suffer a crisis of identity which is bound up in linguistic expression and/or narrative control. Cosima (1937), which is Deledda’s most autobiographical text, displays the author’s close affinity with her writing. Creating a fiction of her own life, Deledda becomes both narrator and protagonist, self and other in the exploration of her own identity, which is integrally connected to the act of writing. The very composition of this text demonstrates the construction of identity in language and narrative which is illustrated within Deledda’s other works.

Ces dernières années, la production littéraire et artistique de Carlo Levi a fait l’objet d’études approfondies et de nombreuses publications. Cependant, une partie de son œuvre a été négligée par la critique et notamment son activité de scénographe, de scénariste et de cinéaste. La collaboration de Carlo Levi avec l’industrie cinématographique commence au début des années trente et se poursuit jusqu’au début des années cinquante. Pendant ces années, Levi a l’occasion de collaborer non seulement avec des artistes comme Enrico Paulucci, Italo Cremona et Carlo Mollino, avec qui il réalise les scénographies de Patatrac et de Pietro Micca, mais aussi avec des hommes de lettres tels que Mario Soldati, Rocco Scotellaro et Alberto Moravia. Cette étude vise à reconstruire le parcours cinématographique de Carlo Levi en s’appuyant sur des documents d’archives de nature et de provenance différente : des scénarios, des synopsis, des story-boards mais aussi des contrats commerciaux, pour la plupart inédits. Sa production filmique couvre tous les genres : du comique au dramatique, du documentaire à la comédie musicale. Notre travail rend accessible une partie méconnue de l’œuvre de Carlo Levi en contribuant ainsi à la redécouverte de l’un des auteurs majeurs du XXe siècle. / In recent years there have been many in depth studies and publications on Carlo Levi's literary and artistic works. However, a section of his work, in particular his work in set design, script writing and film making in general, has been largely neglected by critics. Carlo Levi's association with the film industry started at the beginning of the nineteen thirties and extended to the beginning of the nineteen fifties. During these years, Carlo Levi had the opportunity to work not only with famous artists like Enrico Paulucci, Italo Cremona and Carlo Mollino, with whom he designed the film sets of Patatrac and Pietro Micca, but also with men of letters of the stature of Mario Soldati, Rocco Scotellaro and Alberto Moravia. The aim of this study is to trace Carlo Levi's career in cinema using information found in archived documentation of various types and from various sources: from sets, synopses and story-boards but also in previously unpublished commercial contracts. The films that he produced cover all genres: from comedy to drama and from documentaries to musicals. Our work makes a hereto unknown section of Carlo Levi's work accessible, thereby contributing to the rediscovery of a major 20th century author.

Les personnages des romans d’Elsa Morante (1912-1985) sont analysés du point de vue du rapport apparemment opposé entre leur dimension sociale et leur évidente typisation littéraire. Ces deux pôles, le premier analysé par le recours à certaines notions d’études sociologiques menées par G. Simmel et E. Goffman, le deuxième axé sur la construction au niveau littéraire des personnages, contribuent à mettre en lumière le réalisme de Morante, qui tourne autour des vicissitudes humaines vécues par des « personnages vivants (bien qu’imaginaires) » : la relation avec l’autre et avec soi-même, la recherche d’une identité, grâce et malgré la présence des stigmates, concourent à créer des personnages tout à fait modernes. Les deux parties de cette étude, examinées roman après roman, s’avèrent indispensables et interdépendantes : d’un côté, le réalisme des dynamiques humaines, de l’autre l’univers narratif, fondé sur un incessant travail de réutilisation et de personnalisation des figures stéréotypées et d’éléments identifiables de la tradition littéraire, de la part de l’auteure. / This research focuses on the study of the characters in Elsa Morante's novels. The characters are analysed mostly in relation to the apparently conflictual relationship between their recognizable social dimension and their equally clear literary characterisation. The first aspect is examined with the help of some ideas inspired by the sociological studies carried out by G. Simmel and E. Goffman, while the second is centred on the literary construction of the characters. These two aspects contribute to highlight Morante's understanding of Realism: a concept that revolves around the human events experienced by “living but fictional characters” and that is closely connected to the 20th century. One of the central themes is the relationship with the others and with oneself, together with the search for identity, thanks to and notwithstanding the presence of stigmas. The two dimensions of this study were examined analysing each novel, they are at the same time essential and interdependent: on the one hand we see the realism of human dynamics, analysed with the help of sociological theories, and on the other hand the narrative universe, based on a continuous work of re-use and personalization of stereotypical characters and elements that can be recognised on the basis of literary tradition.

Cette recherche nait de l’intention de retrouver l’influence du « paradigme médical » dans le récit italien de la deuxième moitié du XXe siècle. Aussi, nous sommes nous donné comme objectif celui de reparcourir l’histoire de la médecine, et de voir comment celle-ci a pu influencer tant le texte littéraire que les différents domaines dans lesquels cette discipline s’est imposée comme modèle interprétatif et cognitif. Notre travail a consisté en une revisitation des principales révolutions médicales dans le but de déterminer les ruptures épistémiques qui ont fourni un modèle, applicable à différents domaines (éthique, politique, épistémologie, littérature). En effet, comme l’a affirmé Kuhn, les théories scientifiques devant être considérés comme des « idées », donc le changement de tout paradigmes ne grave pas seulement sur le domaine disciplinaire où celui-ci se vérifie, car il comporte une transformation de tout le système conceptuelle, c’est-à-dire, la manière par laquelle le monde, et donc l’homme, sont perçus. Les principaux changements épistémiques qui se sont succédés – à partir de la naissance de l’anatomie pathologique jusqu’à la génétique – a permis de déterminer quelques éléments forts à travers lesquels ont été décomposés et analysés les textes littéraires pris en examen. Le cadre théorique a permis d’acquérir des renseignements grâce auxquels il a été possible de (re)lire les « cas littéraires » affrontés dans la deuxième partie de la thèse, constitué de certaines œuvres de Primo Levi, de Stefano D’Arrigo et de Valerio Magrelli, dans lesquelles on a trouvé des aspects du même « paradigme » de connaissance. / This research has originated from the intention of finding the influence of the “medical paradigm” in the Italian literature of the second half of the twentieth century. Also, we want to retrace the history of Medicine, and see how it influenced both literary texts and several areas in which it dictate as interpretative and cognitive model. Our work consisted of a revisitation of the main medical revolutions with the aim of determining the epistemic ruptures which supplied a model applicable to different domains (ethics, politics, epistemology, literature). Indeed, as stated by Kuhn, the scientific theories that must be considered as “ideas”, as well as the change of all paradigms, engraves not only on the disciplinary area where it occurs, because it involves a transformation of the conceptual system, that is to say, the way by which the world and the humans are perceived. The main epistemic changes which took place – from the birth of pathological anatomy up to the genetics – has identified some strong elements through which several texts were decomposed and analyzed. The theoretical frame allowed to acquire information which allowed to read the “literary cases” faced in the second part of the thesis, constituted by certain works of Primo Levi, Stefano D’Arrigo and Valerio Magrelli, in which we found aspects of the same “paradigm” of knowledge.

This thesis examines the syntax of the sentence and the style of three of Alberto Arbasino’s early works: Le piccole vacanze (1957), Il ragazzo perduto (1959) and Fratelli d’Italia (1963). The period in which these works were written and published was one of great linguistic changes, with Italian starting to become the language spoken by the majority of the population and the consequent formation of a new variety, the italiano dell’uso medio. This social evolution has also consequences for the language of narrative: whereas some authors embrace the lingua media and a clear, communicative style (stile semplice), others reject it and opt for linguistic experimentation. Although Arbasino is typically placed in this second slant of narrative writing, one cannot so easily assign him to a group or stream, since from the beginning of his career he developed a personal poetics influenced by modernist writers, as well as his own ideas on language and style. The aims of this study are first of all to chart the birth and diachronic evolution of Arbasino’s style, and evaluate the influence of his syntactic choices on it. Then investigate how the syntax of each work compares to the lines of development of contemporary Italian and to the language of contemporary narrative. My analysis begins with a comprehensive outline of the features of contemporary Italian and of the styles of writing in post-war narrative, ending with a focus on the character of Arbasino’s poetics and ideas on language and style in the decade 1954-1964. A brief chapter then illustrates the methodology used, based on quantitative analysis of syntactic aspects, and clarifies terminology. Thereafter, the core of the thesis is composed of three case studies that examine thoroughly the syntax of the sentence and other important syntactic devices of the three works separately, comparing data with corpora of Italian and with studies on narrative language. Finally, a concluding chapter highlights the lines of development of syntax and style in the three works. On the basis of this research, it is clear that the syntax of the sentence places Arbasino among experimental writers tending to break with the linguistic standard. Moreover, Arbasino’s syntactic choices in the three works reflect an increasing distance from traditional literary modes of representation and the progressive affirmation of his own literary project, founded in the poetics of realismo critico.