Interrupted Narratives and Intersectional Representations in Italian Postcolonial Literature

This book argues for the importance of adopting a postcolonial perspective in analysing contemporary Italian culture and literature. Originally published in Italian in 2018 as Riscrivere la nazione: La letteratura italiana postcoloniale, this new English translation brings to light the connections between the present, the colonial past and the great historical waves of international and intranational migration. By doing so, the book shows how a sense of Italian national identity emerged, at least in part, as the result of different migrations and why there is such a strong resistance in Italy to extending the privilege of italianità, or Italianness, to those who have arrived on Italian soil in recent years. Exploring over 100 texts written by migrant and second-generation writers, the book takes an intersectional approach to understanding gender and race in Italian identity. It connects these literary and cultural contexts to the Italian colonial past, while also looking outwards to a more diffuse postcolonial condition in Europe.

“This essay not only draws the most complete picture of Italian postcolonial literature in the last thirty years until nowadays: it forces the reader to embrace the political issues contained in this work opting for an intersectional and postcolonial perspective. It is impossible—and not even desirable—to remain politically neutral in front of this work that highlights the hidden part of the colonial past and its lasting effects in the present.” (Anna Eberle, Annali d'italianistica, Vol. 41, 2023)

“Interrupted Narratives and Intersectional Representations in Italian Postcolonial Literature is a tour-de-force from one of the leading scholars in the field. Romeo argues that rethinking the concepts of Italian identity and culture is necessary in order to highlight the transnational nature of cultural formations, and that adopting a postcolonial and decolonial approach to those concepts is an equally urgent task. Her deft, comprehensive overview of Italian postcolonial literature and accomplished thematic analysis of an astonishing number of texts make this book essential reading for students and scholars of Italian worldwide. It constitutes a significant contribution to the ongoing reconceptualization of Italian Studies and to the reshaping of cultural understandings of italianità.” (Emma Bond, author of Writing Migration through the Body)

“With Interrupted Narratives and Intersectional Representations in Italian Postcolonial Literature, Caterina Romeo paints a compelling and comprehensive picture of Italian postcolonial literature from its inception in the early 1990s through the most recent cultural production. Adopting an intersectional and transdiasporic methodology, Romeo lucidly highlights the political implications of these works as they uncover how notions of race, gender and sexuality developed during the colonial period are still present in contemporary Italy. With an ambitious archive and its use of the most current scholarship, the book effectively maps the field and forcefully argues for its relevance not only in Italy, but in relation to other regions in Europe, the Mediterranean, and North America.” (Clarissa Clò, Professor of Italian and European Studies, San Diego State University)

“This is an impressive study dedicated to migrant authors and their descendants who in the last thirty years have rewritten Italy with their work, sketched a culture in flux, presented a geography colored with new meanings, and filled a society with faces and talents that have struggled to enter into the publishing, film, television, or academic canon. Time and again, Romeo presents the reader with the same question (who can call themselves Italian and based on what criteria) in order to reveal the contradictions, the denials, and the excuses. Romeo transitions from one argument to another with dense and rich analysis, never losing sight of the real context and real life of the authors she so passionately describes.” (Rosetta Giuliani Caponetto, Fascist Hybridities. Racial Mixing and Diaspora Cultures under Mussolini)

“Caterina Romeo’s brilliant analysis illuminates the layers of Italian postcolonial literature and the ways in which it carries in its bones the weight of a haunting past.  A must-read for anyone interested in transnational Italian culture, Interrupted Narratives and Intersectional Representations in Italian Postcolonial Literature showshow a vibrant literature can emerge from histories of oppression and, in the process, forever transform the culture of a nation.” (Edvige Giunta, coeditor of Talking to the Girls: Intimate and Political Essays on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire)

“Deploying postcolonial, decolonial, and transnational perspectives, Caterina Romeo offers a compelling exploration of the writings of Italian immigrants, their descendants, and other authors of the Italian diaspora who have made their voices heard over the past three decades. Attentive to questions of national identity, gender, race, ethnicity, and the construction of space, her work provides an intersectional analysis of one of the most innovative currents animating cultural production at present. By mapping out the rich vein of Italian postcolonial literature, Romeo recalibrates our understanding of contemporary Italian culture and challenges conventional notions of Italianness.” (Àine O’Healy, author of Migrant Anxieties: Italian Cinema in a Transnational Frame)

Caterina Romeo is Associate Professor at Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy, where she teaches Literary Theory, Gender Studies, and Migration Studies. She is the author of Riscrivere la nazione. La letteratura italiana postcoloniale (2018) and Narrative tra due sponde: Memoir di italiane d'America (2005). She has coedited Postcolonial Italy: Challenging National Homogeneity (2012), Postcolonial Europe (special issue of the journal Postcolonial Studies, 2015), and Intersectional Italy (special issue of the Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 2022).