L’esilio e la frontiera nell’italianità letteraria

Full Article in ItalianOriginally, exile was a punishment implying a permanent or temporary banishment from homeland. In modern times as it was not regarded as a penalty anymore, it turned into a self-imposed, voluntary, castigation. In this paper, the main characteristics and consequences of exile is examined from the Italian point of view, notwithstanding the historical events which led to the unification of Italy in a state. The parameters upon which ‘Italianity’ has been predicated are constituted both by language and literature, which – contrary to many European nations (where the national history intertwines with the literary and cultural history) – have paradoxically developed as foreign to any idea of state and/or political entity