Open Access“New Italian Epic” Memorandum
Author(s) -
Tatiana A. Bystrova
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
studia litterarum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 3
eISSN - 2541-8564
pISSN - 2500-4247
DOI - 10.22455/2500-4247-2020-5-4-204-221
Subject(s) - memorandum , narrative , epic , literature , context (archaeology) , narratology , persona , style (visual arts) , history , sociology , art , political science , law , humanities , archaeology
The article examines the main theses of the New Italian Epic Memorandum (2009)written by an Italian literary group “Wu Ming” as well as response of critics andliterary theorists to its publication. The paper discusses the notion of the author’svoice and author’s persona in the context of the modern literary process, as well asother theoretical postulates of the group. The underlying idea of the Memorandum isthe concept of the New Italian Epic (NIE), a body of relevant modern works writtenafter 2000 and sharing common features. The main idea of the NIE concerns thedevelopment of narrative crossroads between literature, journalism, movies, animation,and documentary, with the use of visual effects, allegoric figures, simplified stylistics,and hyperrealism. The Memorandum also calls to abandon traditional literary formsand style. Instead of the term “novel,” the authors suggest an alternative definition:“indefinite narrative object.” Between 2009 and 2019, Wu Ming 1 (Roberto Bui) givesdetailed answers to critical comments and continues to develop their theory that can nolonger be ignored by Italian literary scholars.