The journey through Italian Literature continues

The Series Geography and History of Italian literature (Geografia e storia della letteratura italiana), organised in cooperation with USI Institute of Italian Studies and RSI Rete Due will resume on Tuesday, September 26th with the public lecture on Venice and Carlo Goldoni’s 18th Century. The encounter will be held by Cesare di Michelis, Professor Emeritus of Modern and Contemporary Italian Literature at the University of Padua, at 6.30pm at the RSI Studio 2 in Lugano-Besso.

Carlo Goldoni (Venice 1701-Paris 1793) was one of the key authors of the 1700: an authentic witness of the modern, he pursued it along paths that had yet to be taken. He first found his calling in his own world that did not trust the modern, and then he found it in “Comedy Theatre”, where he tackled the issues of morals and ideals of a society that was still feudal even when it came to the lower classes. While following his dream where the seeds where planted, in the city boroughs, he cut all existing ties with a tradition that was holding him back.

The speaker

Cesare de Michelis is Professor Emeritus of Modern and Contemporary Italian Literature at the University of Padua; he directs the journals «Studi novecenteschi» and «Studi goldoniani» and is co-director of the magazine «Lettere Italiane». He currently collaborates with «Il Sole 24 Ore», with the «Corriere del Veneto» and with the magazine «Formiche». Among his most recent books: Goldoni nostro contemporaneo (Venezia, Marsilio, 2008); Moderno antimoderno (Torino, Aragno, 2010); La vita di Pietro Bembo (Venezia, Marsilio, 2013); Un Cinquecento inquieto (Venezia, Marsilio, 2014); Editori vicini e lontani (Roma, Italo Svevo, 2016). He edited several books by Italian authors such as S. A. Sografi, I. Nievo, M. Gallian, G. Stuparich, M. Gallian, M. Pannunzio, E. Vittorini e G. Berto.

The Lecture Series

Geografia e storia della letteratura italiana (Geography and History of Italian Literature) is a series of 8 public lectures that began in May, is curated by Maria Grazia Rabiolo (RSI ReteDue) in cooperation with Professor Giacomo Jori (ISI – Institute of Italian Studies, USI). 

The series retraces the Italian literary tradition from the Middle Ages to the 20th Century, by pairing a Century (and an author) to a place, taking its cue from Carlo Dionisotti (1908-1998), philologist, essayist and among the most important Italian literary critics of the twentieth century. Since Dionisotti’s mother was from Ticino, he was very attached to our region where he had many friends, such as Padre Giovanni Pozzi. His most popular work is probably Geografia e storia della letteratura italiana, after which the series is named. It was published exactly 50 years ago, and is considered one of the most important works in 20th Century literary criticism.  

Below please find the next Lectures scheduled:

• Venezia e il Settecento di Carlo Goldoni, Tuesday September 26th, 2017, with Cesare de Michelis (University of Padua)
• Le Marche e l'Ottocento di Giacomo Leopardi, Tuesday, October 3rd, with Giorgio Ficara (University of Turin)
• Torino e il Novecento di Primo Levi, Tuesday, October 10th, 2017, with Marco Belpoliti (University of Bergamo)
• L'Italia di Giorgio e Giovanni Orelli, Monday, October 16th, 2017, with Fabio Pusterla (Università della Svizzera italiana, ISI)
• Per Carlo Dionisotti, Tuesday, October 31st, 2017, with Carlotta Dionisotti (King's college London), Maria Antonietta Terzoli (University of Basel) and Carlo Ossola (Università della Svizzera italiana, ISI)

The encounters are directed by Claudio Laiso. Music by Claudio Farinone.

For more information or to request the videos of the lectures: www.rsi.ch/geografialetteraria.