L’intellettuale dimezzato: Italo Calvino e il viaggio in Urss. Tra maturazione politica e riflessione intellettuale (1944-1956)
Author(s)
Mongardini, CATERINA
Date Issued
2024
Type
article
Volume
1
Issue
1/2024
Start Page
23
End Page
44
Journal
Abstract
One hundred years after the birth of Italo Calvino, grafting a «potential path» onto his biography may serve two purposes. First, it prompts suggestions for a broader investigation of the cultural history of an era torn by radical clashes. Secondly, Calvino was a party intellectual, and this feature has lain too long in a blind spot. The article thus begins with Calvino’s journey to the Soviet Union (1951) analysing the report he published in the «Unità». In looking at the intellectual Calvino before, during and after this journey – which took place in the central years of his militancy in the Italian communist party – we find different levels of analysis combining Italian literature, culture and politics.