Professor Federica G Pedriali, Professor of Literary Metatheory and Modern Italian Studies, presented her inaugural lecture, entitled "Gadda Goes to War: On becoming militant in the name of the militance of literature".

Abstract:

There is something about Gadda. The press is in no doubt, in the wake of box office success: "Tutti pazzi per Gadda". The Italian newspaper Repubblica cannot hold back: "Fabrizio Gifuni's monologue is our mirror". It is good to know that the nation in tatters still tolerates the mirror. It is even better, for those who are militant about culture, that it should be Gadda, our most exuberant modernist writer, to provide the emergency rations. One hundred twenty one performances have not just fuelled huge media interest: they do make an urgent statement about our collective need. And now, Italy's best kept literary secret is even packaged for emergency export -- thank goodness for the visionarism of those resisting in the world of the arts.

More details can be found at http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/humanities-soc-sci/news-events/lectures/inaugural-lectures/series-2011-2012/frederica-pedriali

Recorded on Thursday 20 September 2012 at the University of Edinburgh's Appleton Tower.