The history of totalitarian states bears witness to the fact that literature and print media can be manipulated and made into vehicles of mass deception. Censorship and Literature in Fascist Italy is the first comprehensive account of how the Fascists attempted to control Italy's literary production.

Guido Bonsaver looks at how the country's major publishing houses and individual authors responded to the new cultural directives imposed by the Fascists. Throughout his study, Bonsaver uses rare and previously unexamined materials to shed light on important episodes in Italy's...

Recent work on the cultural history of modern Italy has radically challenged received opinion about the relationship of state and culture during the twentieth century. In this rich interdisciplinary book the complex interactions and negotiations of control arising from this state-culture connection are elucidated by way of case studies of major authors, filmmakers and artists and their encounters with censorship, patronage and other forms of direct state intervention; analytical surveys of different periods, media and culture industries; and through an examination of such key issues as...

Elio Vittorini holds a major position in twentieth-century Italian literature thanks to both his narrative production and his activity as editor and militant intellectual. The aim of this book is to present the English-speaking reader with a comprehensive study of the author, his times and his work. Particular attention has been paid to the interconnection between Vittorini's work as a fiction writer and his political commitment which saw him move from revolutionary fascism to communism, to independent left-wing militancy. The combination of extensive archival research with a re-appraisal of...