From “Astolfo” to “Il semplice”. An Archival Investigation

The following paper aims to identify a genealogy of the ‘almanac of prose’ «Il semplice», a six volumes journal by Feltrinelli publishing house (1995-1997). The idea first took shape in a series of public readings (known under the name «Viva Voce») held in Modena in 1992, and the journal was conceived as a permanent literary workshop since the very beginning. The first part of the article is mainly focused on an unpublished journal called «Astolfo dei narratori»: an in-depth study of some related archival documents has shown its strong connection with both «Il semplice» and Narratori delle riserve, a literary column run by Gianni Celati from 1988 to 1989. Forms and themes of the almanac «Il semplice» have been instead investigated in the second part of this study, using the homonymous archive: the purpose of this section is therefore to highlight the elements of continuity with the previous projects and to define its innovative nature