Literature

Although the Greek influence was strongest, it was sot until the 3rd century BC that a literary movement developed in Rome. And it was only natural, with her policy of expansion into the Mediterranean that epic poetry should evolve. Before the fall of the Republic, Gnaeus Naevius had written an epic on the first Punic War while Quintus Ennius published the Annals, his great epic on the history of Rome. Comedy, particularly those penned by Plautus and Terence, found favor with the Romans but also faced stiff competition among a public naturally inclined towards more materialistic forms of entertainment.

Two other figures stand head and shoulders above the rest in the century that reached its climax with the civil war. Catullus innovated with the Latin lyric in his series of personal poems, expressed so simply and poignantly that they were never surpassed by Roman writers. And Cicero, with his colloquial letters and classically perfect speeches before the law courts and the crowds, brought Roman literature to new peaks of excellence.

However, under the Emperor Augustus a truly golden age of Roman literature opened. Augustus enlisted the services of men like Virgil, Horace and the historias Livy to reflect Aride in the Roman people and in their future.

Other writers, notably Ovid, Tibullus and Propertius pushed the literary output to new heights.

But when the empire became flaccid it was reflected in the literature, which was either imitative of the past or, as with the most vital writers of the time such as Juvenal, Tacitus and Lucan, sarcastic, embittered and critical. The rise of Christianity had a lasting effect on the literature of the country, especially as the Gospels and other Christian texts attracted the world's great intellects. In fact, it was through ose church writer, St. Augustine, that the classical tradition managed to survive the Dark Ages.

By the 13th century poetry was in vogue, especially with the Fioretti (Little Flowers) of St. Francis of Assisi. However, in the 14th century Italian literature reached unprecedented levels of glory. The Florentine, Dante Alighieri, banished from his home‑town when his political foes gained the upper hand, wandered from one Italian court to another during the last 20 years of his life. During this period of exile he wrote the Commedia, subsequently prefixed by posterity with the word "Divine". The poem embraces the history of mankind from Adam to his own time and is replete with visions of his visits to hell, purgatory and paradise. It contained the whole texture of an age, with its loves and hates and more particularly its uncertainties and doubts. But through the Divine Comedy, Dante had shown that the language used by Florentine merchants and chroniclers could be effectively set to literature. The educated Italian public became aware of the common foundation behind their civilization and Dante forever after was recognized as the father of the Italian nation.

This century also produced other literary titans in Francesco Petrarch and Giovanni Boccaccio. Petrarch's collection of sonnets, ballads, dances and madrigals, published as the Canzoniere, point to the sickness of the age and the inadequacy of the guiding values of the time. Boccaccio's Decameron, with its 100 short stories on swindlers, fools, opportunists and pathetic noblemen, underlined the basic disenchantment prevailing in the century of devastating plagues and wars. Neither of these great writers could offer any solace for what they saw as the mutability and vanity of human things.

Out of this troubled century emerged the Humanists who rediscovered the ancient classical authors and their methods, that is, in being able to place themselves above their own times and regard it with lucidity of judgment and with curiosity. Unprejudiced and repelled by dogma, fanatics and corruption, they included in their ranks Lorenzo de' Medici. Their lasting impression on Italy was their restoration of the objective nature of their research.

A chivalrous age flourished and there was an outpouring of real literary composition at the beginning of the Renaissance. The Ferraran poet, Ariosto (1474‑1533), attained immediate fame with "Orlando Furioso" in which he related the adventures of the coquette, Angelica, and her two suitors, one of whom was driven insane.

Torquato Tasso, also from Ferrara, stands out among late 16th century writers as his poem, Gerusalemme Liberata (Jerusalem Delivered) was in marked contrast to the rash of literary genres being cultivated.

The prolonged period of foreign domination was accompanied by a decline in Italian literature. Only in the 18^th century was some attempt made to counter‑act the general ennui. The Arcadia movement, seeking a return to simplicity and nature ran into headlong criticism from writers who demanded that the spirit of the times should be more pronounced in literature.

An exception to this drift was the prodigious playwright, Carlo Goldoni. This 18th century Venetian wrote 120 comedies, ripe with good humor and bristling with wit. He rightly earned for himself the accolade of being the "Italian Moliere".

As in the rest of Europe, the romantic movement enlivened the Italian literary scene during the 19th century with Giovanni Berchet emerging as the most illustrious of the poets of the Risorgimento. Alessandro Manzoni was the Italian counter‑part of Sir Walter Scott as a writer of romantic historic novels. He is best remembered for his book, "The Betrothed".

The 19th century closed with a trio of famous authors adding luster to Italian literature. Gabriele D'Annunzio, the poet, dramatist, author and soldier, influenced early 20th century Europe with his output, among the most well‑known of which are poetry in "Alcyon" and his prose, "The Child of Lust". Giosue Carducci, who won the Nobel Prize for poetry in 1906, restored the classical tradition while Giovanni Pascoli won much acclaim for his Latin verses.

Italian literature in our times has also given the world Carlo Lorenzini‑Collodi's best‑seller on the children's market, "The Adventures of Pinocchio".

The turn of the century witnessed the fading of tragedy and a great output of Brama while verse gave way to prose ‑ all in the context of a general skepticism. Luigi Pirandello, awarded a Nobel Prize in 1934, came to the forefront of early 20th century Italian dramatists, developing new stage techniques. In the twenties, the theater of the grotesque tilted at the inanity of the times, with Luigi Chiarelli being one of the prime exponents of the trend. Among the contemporary novelists Alberto Moravia is perhaps the best‑known. "The Indifferent Ones", published in 1932, saw him critical of the middle classes who had so passively accepted fascism. Another pre‑World War II novel, "Wheel of Fortune", directed all his hostility towards the bourgeoisie. Of his postwar works, "The Women of Rome" and "Two Women" show him writing of the relation between the sexes and contrasting sensuality and intellect.

Books about World War II established Curzio Malaparte on the international level. "Kaput", 1945, is a bitter reflection on those years.

Of all the books written about the brightly‑colored and dramatic Island of Sicily the most widely read is perhaps Guiseppe Tommasi di Lampedusa's 1958 award‑winning "The Leopard'. But other books have also been good sellers including :g Danilo Dolci's "Report from Palermo" and Ercole Patti's "Giovannino".

Other required reading for the serious traveler should include "Don Camillo" by Giovanni Guareschi and "Letters from Capri" by Mario Soldati.