P A N I C : Post-Apocalyptic Narratives in Italian Culture (2000 - 2022) - PRIN 2022
PANIC – Post-Apocalyptic Narratives in Italian Culture aims to investigate a flourishing literary production that has never been
systematically investigated until now: contemporary post-apocalyptic narratives set in Italy.
Tales of the end of the world have always been part of human imagery. In the 1900s, narratives of a world that survived a
catastrophe, such as the nuclear one, began to increase. In particular, in recent years, the climate threat has led to a soaring
number of representations of a devastated world, where survivors find themselves grappling with twisted forms of life in a distorted
landscape.
This kind of narratives has long been copiously produced and widely studied internationally, especially in Anglo-American culture.
In Italy, on the other hand, only starting in the 2000s did some authors begin to show interest in the production of post-apocalyptic
stories concerning the climate disaster. Furthermore, for the first time, these stories are set in Italy.
PANIC starts with two research questions. (a) First, to identify, map, and catalog these narratives. (b) Second, to understand what it
means to set them in a landscape, such as the Italian one, traditionally conceived as idyllic, peaceful, and prosperous (Bel Paese).
How to imagine a post-apocalyptic scenario among the sumptuous monuments of Rome, in the fertile Po Valley, in Baroque Sicily, in
the hinterland of Milan, or among the rolling hills of Umbria?
We will first of all proceed to map a constantly growing corpus. Among the numerous narratives available, we will analyze novels
such as L’isola delle madri by Cutrufelli, Bambini bonsai by Zanotti, Apriti, mare! by Pariani, and Qualcosa là fuori by Apaia; graphic
novels such as La terra dei figli by Gipi, and Troppo facile amarti in vacanza by Bevilacqua; but also TV series and films adaptations
such as Anna by Ammaniti, and Cupellini's La terra dei figli.
This corpus will then be investigated from an ecocritical perspective. Particular attention will be given, on the one hand, to the
representation of landscapes and objects that are alienated because at the same time destroyed by the catastrophe but still familiar.
On the other hand, since many of the Italian narratives have women as protagonists, we will focus on gender dynamics, also from an
ecofeminist perspective.
A study of the reception and development of the post-apocalyptic model in contemporary Italian narratives is of fundamental
importance not just from an academic, but also from a social point of view. Such an analysis, in fact, will allow not only to fill an
evident void in the contemporary Italian and international literary panorama. It will also encourage a thorough reflection on
fundamental questions concerning the relationship between man and the environment, the protection of ecosystems and the
territory, and the representation