Twentieth-Century Italian Literature and Cinema Aesthetically Brought to Life Ideas

Twentieth-century Italian Literature and Cinema Aesthetically Brought to Life Ideas Friederich Nietzsche defines history as being an organization of man’s memory in relation to the past, as seen in terms of a series of events. Nietzche’s approach toward history can be articulated in what he dubs his three modern forms of historical consciousness: monumental, antiquarian, and critical. A similar phenomenon of putting history under analysis can be seen in twentieth-century Italian literature and cinema, which experienced a rise in works specifically directed at bringing previously accepted twentieth-century forms of historical consciousness under critical analysis, if not at times, scrutiny. Furthermore, twentieth-century Italian literature and cinema aesthetically brought to life ideas in which Nietzsche only touched upon, as he failed to recognize and convey the means in which one could go about artistically expressing such forms of consciousness. Many Italian novels which portrayed similar inclinations of attacking nineteenth-century forms of historical consciousness, were later adapted to film. However, many of the cinematic recreations intervened on the original novel’s vision of history, taking editorial license, which were, in and of themselves, distinct forms of historical consciousness. Many directors took the liberty of espousing their own personal agendas through the process of adaptation by using various cinematic aesthetics to emphasize and/or elaborate certain aspects of the novel. Both Luchino Visconti and Vittorio de Sica’s cinematic representations of the novels The Leopard and The Garden of the Finzi-Continis respectively, epitomize this pronounced trend. Luchino Visconti adapted to the screen Giuseppe Di Lampedusa’s modernist historical novel The Leopard , which is based in Sicily during the 19th C during a time in which Italy was experiencing tension, due to an ongoing struggle for freedom, dubbed the “Risorgiomento.” While

Bibliography: Marcus, Millicient. "De Sica 's Garden of Finzi Contini". Italian 179X Reader. Santa Barbara: Claudio Fogu, 2009 Lampedusa, Giuseppe Di. The Leopard. New York: William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. and Random House, 1960. Bassani, Giorgio. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis. New York: A Harvest Book, 1977. The Leopard [Region 2]. Dir. Luchino Visconti. Perf. Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, Claudia Cardinale. BFI Collections, 1963. DVD. The Leopard [Region 2]. Dir. Luchino Visconti. Perf. Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, Claudia Cardinale. BFI Collections, 1963. DVD.