This paper focuses on Paolo Milano, an Italian-Jewish writer who moved to New York fleeing from Fascism in 1938. In particular, the essay investigates the trauma of marginality which arises from the analysis of Milano’s literary works. Milano was a well-known journalist and critic who aspired to be a novelist, although he was able to publish posthumously. This essay defines marginality as the underlying disquiet produced by his peripheral condition within the literary field. In analysing the trauma, this paper integrates the comparative lecture of his published and unpublished works with theoretical studies, to prove the close connection between the literary genres chosen by Milano and his trauma. The personal struggle of the author focuses on his writing, which becomes a paradoxical impulse that poisons him in trying to cure his sense of marginality. The marginality distress of Milano is enhanced by his obsessive need to write, because his constant and strict self-criticism inhibits him an objective view of his literary works. The title of his masterpiece clearly highlights this struggle: Note in margine a una vita assente (“Notes alongside a non-lived life”). This essay underlines the cathartic path of the trauma of marginality. Due to the failure of his novelist attempts, Milano felt and suffered his marginal condition within the literary scene until the publication of his latest work, where the author demonstrates that his peripheral condition is no longer lived as a weakness but a sign of uniqueness and a proudness.

"Literary Retchings": Notes on Paolo Milano and Marginality as a Cathartic Path / Angeletti, Valerio. - STAMPA. - (2019).

"Literary Retchings": Notes on Paolo Milano and Marginality as a Cathartic Path

Angeletti, Valerio
2019-01-01

Abstract

This paper focuses on Paolo Milano, an Italian-Jewish writer who moved to New York fleeing from Fascism in 1938. In particular, the essay investigates the trauma of marginality which arises from the analysis of Milano’s literary works. Milano was a well-known journalist and critic who aspired to be a novelist, although he was able to publish posthumously. This essay defines marginality as the underlying disquiet produced by his peripheral condition within the literary field. In analysing the trauma, this paper integrates the comparative lecture of his published and unpublished works with theoretical studies, to prove the close connection between the literary genres chosen by Milano and his trauma. The personal struggle of the author focuses on his writing, which becomes a paradoxical impulse that poisons him in trying to cure his sense of marginality. The marginality distress of Milano is enhanced by his obsessive need to write, because his constant and strict self-criticism inhibits him an objective view of his literary works. The title of his masterpiece clearly highlights this struggle: Note in margine a una vita assente (“Notes alongside a non-lived life”). This essay underlines the cathartic path of the trauma of marginality. Due to the failure of his novelist attempts, Milano felt and suffered his marginal condition within the literary scene until the publication of his latest work, where the author demonstrates that his peripheral condition is no longer lived as a weakness but a sign of uniqueness and a proudness.
2019
Literature, narrative and trauma
Izmir
Ege Ûniversitesi Basımevi
9786053382614
Angeletti, Valerio
"Literary Retchings": Notes on Paolo Milano and Marginality as a Cathartic Path / Angeletti, Valerio. - STAMPA. - (2019).
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11572/256466
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