Brecht in Italy: Aspects of Reception

Abstract

The reception of a literary work — like that of any other aesthetic phenomenon — is determined by specific historical and cultural conditions. Between the two World Wars, the recognition of contemporary German literature in Italy was hampered by the different political conditions existing in the two countries. Before that time, and certainly no later than the Risorgimento, the tradition of German-Italian cultural relations, vis-a-vis contemporary literary practice. was distinguished in large part by mutual indifference, if not outright aversion. Fascism and the continuation of nineteenth-century Italian cultural traditions had blocked access to the avant-garde movements of the Weimar Republic to such an extent that even reputable literary connoisseurs such as Bonaventura Tecchi and Mario Pensa failed to take note of Expressionism.