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The Eloquence of Ghosts

Giorgio Manganelli and the Afterlife of the Avant-Garde

by Florian Mussgnug (Author)
©2023 Monographs XIV, 244 Pages

Summary

Giorgio Manganelli (1922-1990), one of Italy’s most radical and original writers, went further than most in exploring the creative possibilities of hybrid genres and open forms. Ostentation, theatricality, and a love of drapery and verbal excess are defining features of his body of work, which ranges from prose fiction, literary criticism, and drama to travel writing, treatises, commentaries, and imaginary interviews.
This study examines the wealth of Manganelli’s imagination – his grotesque animals, speaking corpses, and melancholy spectres – and argues that his spectacular eloquence was shaped by an exceptional awareness of literary and philosophical models. Following Manganelli’s lead, the author addresses issues such as the boundaries of meaningful language, the relationship between literary and visual texts, fantasy and realism, and the power of literature to express the apprehensions and intimations of human consciousness.

Details

Pages
XIV, 244
Publication Year
2023
ISBN (PDF)
9781803742007
ISBN (ePUB)
9781803742014
ISBN (Softcover)
9781803741994
DOI
10.3726/b20887
Language
English
Publication date
2023 (May)
Published
Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, New York, Wien, 2023. XIV, 244 pp.

Biographical notes

Florian Mussgnug (Author)

Florian Mussgnug is Lecturer in Italian Literature at University College London. His publications include Lutero e la riforma protestante (2003), Folly: Special Issue of Comparative Critical Studies (2008, co-edited with Lucia Boldrini), and Postmodern Impegno: Ethics and Commitment in Contemporary Italian Culture (2009, co-edited with Pierpaolo Antonello), as well as articles on twentieth-century Italian literature, philosophy of language, and literary theory. He is co-editor of Contemporanea and a member of the executive committee of the British Comparative Literature Association.

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Title: The Eloquence of Ghosts