You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
The way in which a society expresses grief can reveal how it views both intense emotions and public order. In thirteenth-century Italian communes, a conscious effort to change appropriate public reaction to death threw into sharp relief connections among urban politics, gender expectations, and understandings of emotionality. In Passion and Order, Carol Lansing explores a dramatic change in thinking and practice about emotional restraint. This shift was driven by politics and understood in terms of gender. Thirteenth-century court cases reveal that male elites were accustomed to mourning loudly and demonstratively at funerals. As many as a hundred men might gather in a town's streets and squ...
The crime genre entered Italy in the late nineteenth century, and if initially Italian authors followed models developed abroad—principally in the United States, England and France—a uniquely Italian brand began to emerge soon. Il giallo, as the crime genre has been known in Italy since the 1930s, proved to be the ideal instrument to confront pressing and often uncomfortable issues which were pertinent to the Italian context: it became a useful tool to restore, symbolically at least, the truth and justice that were, and still are, perceived by a large part of the Italian reading public to be systematically denied in reality. In today’s Italy, the crime genre, and particularly its noir ...
Italian Crime Fiction is the first study in the English language to focus specifically on Italian detective and noir fiction from the 1930s to the present. The eight chapters include studies on some of the founding fathers of the Italian tradition, and mainstream writers. The volume has a particular focus on the new generation of crime writers.
 The birth and rise of popular Italian cinema since the early 1950s can be attributed purely to necessity. The vast number of genres, sub-genres, currents and crossovers and the way they have overlapped, died out or replaced each other has been an attempt, in postwar years, to contain the invasion of U.S. product while satisfying the demands the American industry had created in Italy. The author explores one of the most multi-faceted and contradictory industries cinema has ever known through the careers of those most closely associated with it. His recorded interviews were conducted with directors and actors both well-known and upcoming.
From its birth in 1913 to its abolition in 2021, film censorship marked the history of Italian cinema, and its evolution mirrored the social, political, and cultural travail of the country. During the Fascist regime and in the postwar period, censorship was a powerful political tool in the hands of the ruling party; many films were banned or severely cut. By the end of the 1960s, censors had to cope with the changing morals and the widespread diffusion of sexuality in popular culture, which led to the boom of hardcore pornography. With the crisis of the national industry and the growing influence of television, censorship gradually changed its focus and targets. The book analyzes Italian film censorship from its early days to the present, discussing the most controversial cases and protagonists. These include such notorious works as Last Tango in Paris and Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom, and groundbreaking filmmakers such as Luchino Visconti, Federico Fellini and Pier Paolo Pasolini, who pushed the limits of what was acceptable on screen, causing scandal and public debate.
The ‘new Italian narrative’ that began to be spoken about in the 1980s was not associated with a single writer or movement but with an eclectic and varied production. The eight essays that make up this volume set out to give a flavour of the breadth and range of recent trends and developments. The collection opens with two essays on crime fiction. In the first, Luca Somigli examines novels dealing with topical issues or recent history and which reveal a strong indigenous and regional tradition, while in the second, Nicoletta McGowan discusses the particular case of a noir by Claudia Salvatori. They are followed by essays on two of Italy’s best-known contemporary writers: Marina Spuntaâ...
Italian Gothic horror films of the 1970s were influenced by the violent giallo movies and adults-only comics of the era, resulting in a graphic approach to the genre. Stories often featured over-the-top violence and nudity and pushed the limits of what could be shown on the screen. The decade marked the return of specialist directors like Mario Bava, Riccardo Freda and Antonio Margheriti, and the emergence of new talents such as Pupi Avati (The House with the Laughing Windows) and Francesco Barilli (The Perfume of the Lady in Black). The author examines the Italian Gothic horror of the period, providing previously unpublished details and production data taken from official papers, original scripts and interviews with filmmakers, scriptwriters and actors. Entries include complete cast and crew lists, plot summaries, production history and analysis. An appendix covers Italian made-for-TV films and mini-series.
Spaghetti Westerns--mostly produced in Italy or by Italians but made throughout Europe--were bleaker, rougher, grittier imitations of Hollywood Westerns, focusing on heroes only slightly less evil than the villains. After a main filmography covering 558 Spaghetti Westerns, another section provides filmographies of personnel--actors and actresses, directors, musical composers, scriptwriters, cinematographers. Appendices provide lists of the popular Django films and the Sartana films, a listing of U.S.-made Spaghetti Western lookalikes, top ten and twenty lists and a list of the genre's worst.
In 1970s Italy, after the decline of the Spaghetti Western, crime films became the most popular, profitable and controversial genre. In a country plagued with violence, political tensions and armed struggle, these films managed to capture the anxiety and anger of the times in their tales of tough cops, ruthless criminals and urban paranoia. Recent years have seen renewed critical interest in the genre, thanks in part to such illustrious fans as Quentin Tarantino. This book examines all of the 220+ crime films produced in Italy between 1968 and 1980, the period when the genre first appeared and grew to its peak. Entries include a complete cast and crew list, home video releases, a plot summary and the author's own analysis. Excerpts from a variety of sources are included: academic texts, contemporary reviews, and interviews with filmmakers, scriptwriters and actors. There are many onset stills and film posters.
This rigorously compiled A-Z volume offers rich, readable coverage of the diverse forms of post-1945 Italian culture. With over 900 entries by international contributors, this volume is genuinely interdisciplinary in character, treating traditional political, economic, and legal concerns, with a particular emphasis on neglected areas of popular culture. Entries range from short definitions, histories or biographies to longer overviews covering themes, movements, institutions and personalities, from advertising to fascism, and Pirelli to Zeffirelli. The Encyclopedia aims to inform and inspire both teachers and students in the following fields: *Italian language and literature *Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences *European Studies *Media and Cultural Studies *Business and Management *Art and Design It is extensively cross-referenced, has a thematic contents list and suggestions for further reading.