Edoardo Sanguineti: Literature, Ideology and the Avant-garde

Poet, novelist, theorist, playwright, translator, politician, and teacher, Edoardo Sanguineti (1930-2010) is one of the most original and influential Italian intellectuals of the second post-war period. An ardent and unremitting historical materialist, he investigated the links between language and ideology, literature and the other arts, together with their functions within the logic of late capitalism. The extraordinary range of his creative work persistently defies conventional aesthetic notions. With their variety of topics and critical perspectives, the essays assembled in this volume explore both the relevance of his theoretical postures and the ideological and formal fabric of his literary production. They highlight his subversive objectives, the complexity of the language, the astonishing linguistic ingenuity, metaliterary significance, whimsical disposition, and provocative social critique. Testimonials by Sanguineti's colleagues and students, presented here in English translation, offer a portrait of the man, his temperament and his distinctiveness, and provide a personal view of the life and work of a brilliant intellectual. Paolo Chirumbolo is Assistant Professor of Italian at Louisiana State University. John Picchione is Associate Professor of Italian at York University, Toronto. (Legenda 2013)