https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/12660 2026-04-05T08:00:26Z 2026-04-05T08:00:26Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/101542 2022-09-07T10:16:46Z 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: L'elemento favolistico-fiabesco nella narrativa giovanile scritta da Italo Calvino Abstract: The main aim of this dissertation is to study the influence of fairy tales and fables in ltalo Calvino's earlier works, namely II sentiero dei nidi di ragno (1947), Ultimo viene ii corvo (1949), the trilogy of I nostri antenati (II visconte dimezzato 1952, II barone rampante 1957 and II cavaliere inesistente 1959) and the collection of short stories entitled Marcovado, owero le stagioni in citta (1963). Moreover the dissertation discusses in detail the collection of Italian folktales, Fiabe italiane (1956), that Calvino was commissioned to prepare for the publishing house Einaudi. All these works are acclaimed by literary critics as major contributions to Children's Literature in the 20th Century Italian literature. In fact they have been listed in one of the most detailed studies so far on Italian Children's Literature, the Dizionario della /etteratura per ragazzi by Teresa Buongiorno (Fabbri 2001). The first part of the dissertation deals with a general overview on the concept of Children's Literature as provided by Italian and other international scholars. It has to be pointed out that his work at the publishing house of Einaudi, brought Calvino in close relationship with the international children books. Moreover he himself directed the publishing of the series of books 'Biblioteca giovani' published by Einaudi in early 1970s. Special focus is given to studies on themes, literary topoi and narrative structure of the fable, which is one of the traditional genres of Children's Literature. These are discussed taking into account the essays on this subject (Sulla fiaba, 1988) that Calvino wrote while he was preparing the anthology of Italian folk-tales (Fiabe italiane). Having set the theoretically basis for the subject of this dissertation, the second part of the thesis studies how Calvino utilises the narrative structure, themes and topoi of the fable/fairy tale in his fiction books listed above. Cesare Pavese and Elio Vittorini were amongst the first critics to note that Calvino's novels turn the traditional general lesson of fable to the purpose of social commentary and satire. Pavese also speaks of an 'Ariostoesque flavour' in II sentiero dei nidi di ragno meaning Calvino's joyful activity as a storyteller that combines and rearranges the fabulous elements to invent fantasy tales that have the moralistic intention of teaching good values. In one of his essays, Tre correnti de/ romanzo italiano d'oggi (published in Una pietra sopra), Calvino praises the ability of Ariosto in representing his contemporary world by making use of humour, irony and satire, thus managing to create fantasy stories that are enjoyable to read and have the objective to teach good ideals. Similarly for Calvino, fables are not governed solely by fantasy, but they can be considered as an encyclopaedic representation of life's necessities and extravagances. In other words Calvino utilises the fabulous as a means for transfiguring reality in a metaphorical and allegorical way. Calvino summarises his predisposition to use the fable narrative in an essay entitled Tre correnti def romanzo italiano d'oggi, where he writes· Mi interessa della fiaba ii disegno lineare della narrazione, ii ritmo, l'essenzialita, ii modo in cui ii senso d'una vita e contenuta in una sintesi di fatti, di prove da superare, di momenti supremi This use of fable-like narrative can been seen is Calvino's first novel, II sentiero dei nidi di ragno where, moving in the context of neorealism, Calvino adopts the topoi of Resistance 1 I.Calvino, Tre correnti dei romanzo italiano d'oggi, in Una pietra sopra, Milano: Mondadori, 2001, pp.67. literature of the contemporary neorealistic fiction, but turns them into a fable of estrangement. The author achieves this by representing the Resistance as seen through the eyes of a nine year old child, and developes the story as a "favola di bosco". The commitment to neorealism also alternates with fantasy in some of the short stories collected in Ultimo viene ii corvo [...] Description: PH.D.ITALIAN

2010-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/101538 2022-09-26T05:28:20Z 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Lo screening del migrate : la rappresentazione dell'alterità nel cinema italiano contemporaneo Abstract: The present work arises from the consideration that, in recent Italian filmography, the figure of the foreign migrant who comes from the world's South is often represented through a series of cliche connoted by paternalistic or othering tones, that often confine his/her expressive potential in rigid and schematic portraits. Although most of the film directors are inspired by the honest intention to re-evaluate the figure of the immigrant, which is so often neglected or altered by the media, their portrayal does not really provide an in-depth analysis of the so-called Otherness. Furthermore, I have observed that migrants, being subaltern subjects, often have a very marginal role in the film or, using a Spivakian expression, they "cannot speak", simply because they are not allowed to make their voices heard. On the basis of such reflections, I thought it could be of particular interest to carry out an analysis aiming at discovering the origins of the stereotyped representation of the Other as well as of the conscious or unconscious discriminating attitude towards migrants, common to a considerable part of Italian society. The analysis has allowed me to trace such origins back to the repressed memory of the Italian colonial past, in which the need to assert the identity of the Italian people and of a powerful and prestigious "Motherland" (and to justify her colonial enterprises), was best expressed by Fascism and by the fascist propaganda, that became the most powerful instrument of discrimination between the Italian colonizer and the colonized subjects. The racism and prejudices towards contemporary migrants, often discriminated on the basis of their supposed diversity antithetic to the dominant culture, appear paradoxical, because they overlook the fact that Italy too has been a country of emigrants, who had to face the pain of being uprooted as well as the difficulties of integration in the guest country, where they became the object of stereotypes and prejudices. Such an apparent forgetfulness contributes, even in cinema, to a short-sighted, partial and essentialist vision of the immigrant. These representative shortcomings are not found, on the other hand, in the (few) films screening the Italian emigrant who, in the previous century, migrated abroad or from the South to the North of Italy, with the exception of the comedy, which is intrinsically based on stereotypes. Therefore, I have tried to highlight the unpreparedness of Italian cinema in the new confrontation with Otherness, which reflects the unpreparedness of Italian society itself, in spite of some effective and significant exceptions hinting at a partial but substantial progress in the cinematographic path of approaching the Other through a multiethnic perspective. [...] Description: PH.D.ITALIAN

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/75229 2021-05-06T09:45:17Z 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: La rappresentazione dell'emigrazione nel cinema italiano Abstract: L'obiettivo della mia tesi e' quello di analizzare come i registi italiani scelgono di rappresentare il tema dell'emigrazione. La storia insegna che il fenomeno non e' recente per questa ragione ho scelto di mettere in contrapposizione anche film non contemporanei e che possano servire da contraltare e modello per i giovani ed esordienti registi di oggi e domani. Description: M.A.ITALIAN

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/13394 2019-07-17T07:50:49Z 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Gomorra : dalla pagina scritta allo schermo Abstract: Uno degli argomenti più frequenti che si incontrano studiando la cultura italiana è quello della criminalità organizzata. Fin dalla scuola superiore abbiamo discusso questo dramma sociale centrale tra i problemi del Mezzogiorno d’Italia, e per questo ho deciso di approfondirlo anche nella mia tesi di laurea. Questo fenomeno mi ha sempre intrigato ed infatti mi sono già occupata del problema della mafia studiandolo nei romanzi di Leonardo Sciascia. Nelle ricerche che ho fatto sulla letteratura e la cinematografia a tema mafioso, ho incontrato molti testi e film rilevanti. Mi sono dunque soffermata su uno dei bestseller italiani, il libro che ha commosso e colpito tutto il Paese: Gomorra di Roberto Saviano (2006). L’opera è composta da episodi di cronaca della Campania, regione funestata dall’organizzazione criminale della camorra. Approfondendo le mie ricerche sul lavoro di questo autore, ho scoperto che dal libro è stata tratta, nel 2008, la pellicola omonima Gomorra di Matteo Garrone ed in seguito, nel 2014, ne è stata realizzata una serie televisiva di grande successo, prodotta da Sky, Fandango e Cattleya con la collaborazione di Beta Film e LA7. Analizzando le tre opere intendo mostrare la rappresentazione della camorra in questi lavori diversi tra di loro. Mi soffermerò anche sul coraggio dell’autore che, pubblicando un’opera di denuncia come questa, si è esposto a notevoli rischi, tanto mediatici quanto personali. Gomorra non ha solo cambiato la vita dello scrittore ma ha anche aperto gli occhi del grande pubblico sulla scottante realtà della criminalità organizzata campana. Per di più, l’autore viene varie volte minacciato dalla camorra e vive sotto scorta. Anche se il libro lo ha reso famoso, lo ha fatto diventare un prigioniero ed ha messo la sua vita in rischio. L’autore ha messo in luce le caratteristiche di una società che uccide in silenzio, che non è mai punita per i suoi misfatti e che protegge i colpevoli e il loro potere dietro un muro di omertà. Per questo si deve dare più pregio all’autore che nonostante il rischio si è ribellato contro il potere per smascherare la realtà sulla camorra. Concludo questa riflessione con le parole dell’autore stesso, le quali riassumono quello che è successo a Saviano dopo la pubblicazione di Gomorra: «Quando si racconta il male, si diventa il male. Il bersaglio non è più il potere criminale ma chi lo racconta.» Description: B.A.(HONS)ITALIAN

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z