Abstract
ABSTRACTDeveloping from a discussion of the importance of placing Italian culture in transnational perspective, this article addresses the representation of the Italian presence in East Africa during the colonial period and in the decades following the Second World War. It looks at the writings of Erminia Dell’Oro, Nicky Di Paolo and Gabriella Ghermandi. It argues that our ability to see these writings as a complex evocation of multi‐faceted material and psychic realities is enhanced if they are read in the light of recent theoretical work that has explored how the spectre of the past returns to trouble both individual consciousness and the collective imaginary. The article contends that by reading representations of the Italian presence in East Africa in this light we can gain a greater sense of how they attempt to represent the individual’s participation in some of the most deeply layered transnational social practices.
Highlights
Though it is easy enough to witness the increasingly evident effects of globalization and even, perhaps, to anticipate a post-national future, few would seek to deny the fact that we live within national frameworks
For the specific purpose of examining the representation of time, I would like to concentrate on three texts by writers whose work on the multi-faceted legacy of the Italian presence in East Africa is acutely sensitive to the nature of the subjective insight into entangled temporalities
Within the understanding of Eritrean history that is laid before us, there is little attempt to conceal the positionality of the writer: Di Paolo writes as a member of the former Italian community in Eritrea and the novel’s interpretation of the Italian presence over more than half a century in the country, though not uncritical, is favourable; the coincidence between his experiences and those of the fictional character Marco are not denied; the depth of the information that is conveyed – whether that is on the administration of Eritrea, the stages of the war with Ethiopia, the characteristics of the landscape – draws extensively on Di Paolo’s non-fictional writing
Summary
Though it is easy enough to witness the increasingly evident effects of globalization and even, perhaps, to anticipate a post-national future, few would seek to deny the fact that we live within national frameworks.
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