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Extending the Middlebrow : Italian fiction in the early twentieth century

(2017) BELPHEGOR. 15(2).
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Abstract
The aim of this essay is to determine whether the concept of the middlebrow can also be translated to cultural and historical contexts other than the Anglo-American one in which it first originated. More particularly, we seek to investigate whether the term can usefully be applied to the Italian literary scene of the first part of the twentieth century. After a short introduction of the different historical and critical uses of the term in Britain and the U.S., we turn to Italy of the early twentieth century for a description of the numerous new developments in writing, publishing and marketing literature. Subsequently, we assess the different ways in which these changes have been analysed and conceptualised in Italian literary criticism, so as to point out the lacunae in this scholarship precisely with regard to writing that falls in between the categories of popular and high literature. By means of one more detailed case study, i.e. the work of the once popular and now forgotten writer Pitigrilli, we argue that his novels share many of the characteristics of the literature labelled as middlebrow in an Anglo-American context. The introduction of this term in Italian criticism, we argue, would undoubtedly lead to a more accurate assessment of his work -and that of other writers like him -within Italian literary history.
Keywords
middlebrow literature, Italian literature, interwar period, popular novel, Pitigrilli

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MLA
D’hoker, Elke, and Sarah Bonciarelli. “Extending the Middlebrow : Italian Fiction in the Early Twentieth Century.” BELPHEGOR, vol. 15, no. 2, 2017, doi:10.4000/belphegor.957.
APA
D’hoker, E., & Bonciarelli, S. (2017). Extending the Middlebrow : Italian fiction in the early twentieth century. BELPHEGOR, 15(2). https://doi.org/10.4000/belphegor.957
Chicago author-date
D’hoker, Elke, and Sarah Bonciarelli. 2017. “Extending the Middlebrow : Italian Fiction in the Early Twentieth Century.” BELPHEGOR 15 (2). https://doi.org/10.4000/belphegor.957.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
D’hoker, Elke, and Sarah Bonciarelli. 2017. “Extending the Middlebrow : Italian Fiction in the Early Twentieth Century.” BELPHEGOR 15 (2). doi:10.4000/belphegor.957.
Vancouver
1.
D’hoker E, Bonciarelli S. Extending the Middlebrow : Italian fiction in the early twentieth century. BELPHEGOR. 2017;15(2).
IEEE
[1]
E. D’hoker and S. Bonciarelli, “Extending the Middlebrow : Italian fiction in the early twentieth century,” BELPHEGOR, vol. 15, no. 2, 2017.
@article{8529458,
  abstract     = {{The aim of this essay is to determine whether the concept of the middlebrow can also be translated to cultural and historical contexts other than the Anglo-American one in which it first originated. More particularly, we seek to investigate whether the term can usefully be applied to the Italian literary scene of the first part of the twentieth century. After a short introduction of the different historical and critical uses of the term in Britain and the U.S., we turn to Italy of the early twentieth century for a description of the numerous new developments in writing, publishing and marketing literature. Subsequently, we assess the different ways in which these changes have been analysed and conceptualised in Italian literary criticism, so as to point out the lacunae in this scholarship precisely with regard to writing that falls in between the categories of popular and high literature. By means of one more detailed case study, i.e. the work of the once popular and now forgotten writer Pitigrilli, we argue that his novels share many of the characteristics of the literature labelled as middlebrow in an Anglo-American context. The introduction of this term in Italian criticism, we argue, would undoubtedly lead to a more accurate assessment of his work -and that of other writers like him -within Italian literary history.}},
  articleno    = {{957}},
  author       = {{D'hoker, Elke and Bonciarelli, Sarah}},
  issn         = {{1499-7185}},
  journal      = {{BELPHEGOR}},
  keywords     = {{middlebrow literature,Italian literature,interwar period,popular novel,Pitigrilli}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{16}},
  title        = {{Extending the Middlebrow : Italian fiction in the early twentieth century}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.4000/belphegor.957}},
  volume       = {{15}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}

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