Le riviste di italianistica nel mondo: Atti del Convegno internazionale. Napoli 23-25 Novembre 2000 by Marco Santoro (review)

Abstract

MLR, 99.4, 2004 1067 Le riviste di italianistica nel mondo: Atti del Convegno internazionale. Napoli 23-25 Novembre 2000. Ed. by Marco Santoro. (Quaderni di 'Esperienze Letterarie', 3) Rome and Pisa: Istituti Editoriali e Poligrafici Internazionali. 2002. xvii + 384 pp. ?93. ISBN88-8147-252-X. This volume, which collects the proceedings of the 2000 Naples conference on present-day periodicals devoted to Italian studies, offersa wealth ofinformation about this discipline, reaching well beyond what might appear to be the narrow confines of the topic. Some papers concentrate on single journals, others on journals covering particular areas (e.g. comparative studies, Renaissance studies), others on single coun? tries or groups of countries, and there are also the reports of two well-documented round tables devoted to the problems of bibliographical norms and information, and of reviews. There is much of historical interest, starting from accounts of the origins of early periodicals, such as the Giornale storico della letteratura italiana (founded 1883) and the Rassegna della letteratura italiana (founded 1893), which were to take different political stances during Fascism, the firstunder Vittorio Cian, sympathetic towards the regime, the second under Achille Pellizzari, opposed to it (to the point, as Branca notes in the opening of his piece on Lettere italiane, of even breaking the law by omitting the date of the Fascist era from the Rassegna). The pieces on non-Italian periodicals give us particularly valuable accounts of the origins of university teaching of Italian, e.g. in France, Spain, Australia, and Argentina (here there is also mention of the input of Jewish refugees from Italy?one only has to recall the linguist Benvenuto Terracini). With respect to Bulgaria there is reference to Italian studies suffering a setback through the perception of Italy as 'patria del fascismo': even at the present time the country has no periodical devoted to Italian. In the discussion of the UK by Zyg Baranski we get a telling account of the British government policies damaging to the Italianist discipline, and as for Italy, several contributors deplore the effectsofthe 'reforms' on the study of Italian litera? ture. But apart from limited worries, connected also with the prevalence of Novecento studies (especially outside Italy), there is optimism and various periodicals put for? ward their future plans, such as Studi secenteschi's programme to encourage the study of historical writing and of Seicento Latin poetry, and there is confidence enough to found new highly specialized journals such as Albertiana (1998). Some of the founders discuss their own periodicals. Vittore Branca has been as? sociated with Lettere italiane since 1953; Cesare Segre was one of the founders of Strumenti critici (1966), Enzo Noe Girardi of Testo (1980), Baranski of The Italian? ist (1981), and Maria Corti of Autografo (1984). These editors explain the motives for founding their periodicals, corresponding either to their own views of literary discussions (Girardi), or to the documentation of new collections?thePavia Fondo Manoscritti (Corti)?or to the progress of the discipline (Baranski), or to freshcritical theories (Segre). In other cases important figures,connected with differentmoments of a journal or cultural activity, are evoked by their successors: Pellizzari for the Rassegna, Renzo Negri forItalianistica, and Gherardo Marone in Argentina, respon? sible, among other initiatives, for founding the national society for Dante studies. Among the aims of the periodicals we are given not only the coverage of certain areas and the particular critical line, but the readership as well: Lettere italiane and Itali? anistica, for instance, aim also to reach schoolteachers, and as to contributors, Studi italianiand Linguisticae letteratura, among others, tryto encourage recent graduates. Some ofthe Italian journals have regional affiliations,being the product of specific universities, such as Critica letteraria, linked to Naples and centred on a NaplesRome axis, and Moderna, linked to Siena. More focused on regional problems are some ofthe dedicated journals, such as Incontri meridionali and Quaderni del mezzo- 1068 Reviews giorno, and ones produced furtherafield, such as the Canadian L'arvista dl'academia, concentrating mainly on Piedmontese linguistics through the medium of the dialect. In Canada too, as well as in the United States, apart from the rich selection of more traditional periodicals, we have those devoted to Italo-Canadian and...