| Time: | July 16, 2025 |
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Children’s literature in Fascist Italy, two case studies: Annie Vivanti and Massimo Bontempelli
(Vortrag in englischer Sprache)
MITTWOCH, 16. JULI 2025,
13:15 – 14:15 UHR
KII 17.25
Children’s Literature in Fascist Italy, Two Case Studies: Annie Vivanti and Massimo Bontempelli
The conference is a Vischer Lecture. It is dedicated to Children’s literature in fascist Italy. In 1922 and 1923, the publishing company Bemporad, specialised in children’s literature, published two books based on Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass (and What Alice Found There) (1871). The first book is La scacchiera davanti allo specchio by Massimo Bontempelli, written in 1921; the second is Sua Altezza! (“Favola candida”) by Annie Vivanti, composed between 1921 and 1922. In the same period, two writers, very different in origin, cultural background and artistic choices, decided to take inspiration from the work of the British writer Carroll to create two novels set in an “other” world that nevertheless remains strongly linked to reality.
It does not seem inappropriate to think that the choice was influenced by the complex political and social situation that Italy was going through in those years, at a historical moment in which the stability of the institutions seemed fragile. Between 1919 and 1920, the country was going through strong social tensions, a consequence of the heavy post-war economic crisis; in this period, called the ‘Biennio Rosso’, the working class gave rise to frequent revolts, demonstrations and factory occupations. At the same time, the Fasci di combattimento were born (1919) from which the Partito nazionale fascista, led by Mussolini, was formed in 1921 and, finally, on 22th of October 1922, with the March on Rome, the so-called Ventennio fascista began in Italy.
In the midst of this period of strong political turbulence, the two writers exploit the expedient of the gateway (a mirror for Bontempelli, a painting for Vivanti) to lead their young protagonists into fantastic worlds, full, however, of pitfalls and dangers. The children are forced to interact with contradictory and despotic characters who want to limit them or keep them prisoners, and only by escaping they will save themselves. The lecture will focus on the thematic and stylistic aspects of these texts in order to highlight the common or divergent elements with respect to the model, reflecting on the possible influences that the historical-political context has played on the writing of the two works.
