Italian Cultural Studies

Work Notes on Etruscan Mirrors & Murals II

by Mel Copeland

This is a PDF file from our website covering Etruscan Mirrors and Murals, with images compiled from the Etruscan Phrases website http://www.maravot.com/Etruscan_Phrases_a.html.

In contrast to offerings from the British Museum and University of Bologna, where their analyses, following Pallottino, are generally speculation based on guesswork relating to short funerary inscriptions, the Etruscan Phrases work is supported by a strong grammar and vocabulary based on all texts, small and large. Thus, to clear the mystery of the Etruscan language alleged by such esteemed institutions, it is imperative that the Etruscan Phrases GlossaryA.xls be audited. We mention this since the only prospect of clearing up the Etruscan Mystery is through a verifiable audit of the Etruscan Grammar recorded in Etruscan Phrases. The British Museum, University of Bologna and other "Pallottino School" works have not produced a vocabulary or grammar that can be audited, since their theory is that the Etruscan language is unlike any other known to man, not Indo-European. Etruscan Phrases claims that the Etruscan Language is similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian, an Indo-European language. It offers a grammar, declension patterns and regular, measurable shifts between Etruscan and these languages; ergo the work can be easily audited.

Most important to the work are the Etruscan mirrors and murals that contain known Classical stories and the names of the principle characters in the stories. The star of the mirrors is Helen of Troy who was the young daughter of King Tyndareüs of Sparta and abducted by the equally beautiful son of King Priam of Troy, thereby causing the Trojan War. While the entire story has captured the hearts and imaginations of generations since that event (Troy was destroyed ~1180 B.C.) we can presume through Etruscan mirrors that the event was part of their history – and they had a somewhat different recollection of it than the Greek version passed down to us.

Because the story is familiar and linking the genesis of Greek heroes and gods, containing their names and actions, we have comparative texts to use in analyzing the Etruscan language, its shifts from Greek and Latin to Etruscan. For instance the heroes of the story follow a regular shift, of dropping vowels and final consonants, etc. Heracles (L. Hercules) is Hercle (almost like the French, Hercule). Helen’s name declines: Helenai and Helenei, leading us to the declension of other nouns. Her father was Zeus who transformed into a swan and raped the goddess Nemesis THALNA (retribution) who had transformed into a goose. She laid an egg or two eggs, one of which was Helen which was found by shepherds near Sparta and taken to Tyndareüs and Leda to bring up. From the egg came Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world.

The most beautiful man at the time was Alexander, spelled ELCHSENTRE and he abducted Helen from her husband Menelaus, MENLE, the brother of King Agamemnon: ACHMEMNVN. His wife Clytemnestra is CLVTHVMVSTHA who murdered her husband in the bath upon returning from the Trojan War, and their son, Orestes (VRSTE) killed her and her lover in revenge. Athena (L. Minerva) is MENRFA; Hera (L. Juno) is VNI, her consort is Zeus (L. Jupiter) Etr. TINIA. Thetis is THETIS and THETHIS, she was a dangerous shape-changer and compelled by the gods to wed her husband Peleus, PELE; they produced the Greek hero of the Trojan War, Achilles who the Etruscans call ACHLE. The mother of Helen, Leda, is LATFA and her brothers, Castor and Polydeukes (Pollux) are CASTVR and PVLTVCEI. Their father Tyndareüs is TVNTLE. Aphrodite (Etr. TVRAN) was a cause of the Trojan War when she was judged by Alexander as “The Fairest” as written on an apple thrown into the wedding of Thetis and Peleus by Eris (Etr. ERIS). Aphrodite’s son was Eros (Etr. ERVS) – appearing in many texts. Another popular figure in Etruscan mirrors is Hermes (L. Mercury) TVRMS.

Apollo (APLV) and Artemis are represented frequently in the texts. Ajax Telemonos EIFAS TELMVNVS committed suicide after Achilles was killed, because he did not deserve Achilles’ armor. Apollo (APLV) and his sister the virgin huntress Artemis (ARTVMES) were highly active in the Trojan War. The Etruscans introduce a new character like Artemis called MEAN who crowns Alexander, awarding him the hand of Helen, though we understand from the Greek version that it was Aphrodite (Etr. TVRAN) that awarded Alexander the hand of Helen in the Judgment of Paris. MEAN appears to be a goddess of the hunt like Artemis from Lydia, recalling the old name of Lydia, Maionia (Μαιονία). This is just a tease, for the mirrors and murals carry amazing details never before known to modern man. The images, names and texts associated with the mirrors and murals set the baseline for understanding Etruscan Grammar and the words recorded in Etruscan Phrases GlossaryA.pdf. (The most current version available at http://www.maravot.com/Etruscan_Phrases_a.html.

We should hope, therefore, that there will be many linguists / scholars who will jump at the chance to clear up the Etruscan Mystery and rewrite the histories so clearly overshadowed by the Pallottino School theories, to help even the museums containing Etruscan artifacts explain a bit more about the items in their displays.

Etruscan GlossaryA.pdf an index to about 2,500 Etruscan words that are similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. Declension patterns follow those in Latin. The 2,500 words equal the repeated words in 6,000 words of the major extant texts. The texts have been frozen in time, covering ~700-400 B.C., representing a lens to understanding the early formation of Indo-European languages, particularly the early Italic-Latin-Celtic languages, such as Italian, French & Romanian / Dacian. (By 45 BC. the language was a dead language - no one understood or could write Etruscan)

This GlossaryA works together with Indo-European Table 1 which refutes theories by the Pallottino school of thought that the Etruscan language is not Indo-European and an isolate, unlike any other language. It is very close to Latin and, curiously, Romanian, Italian and French. The Latin suffix, "us" shifts to "o" as in Italian (Titus vs Tito); first person conjugation patterns are similar to French and Romanian. This GlossaryA provides a quick look at the grammatical structure of the Etruscan language, how closely it coincides with Latin. A more detailed Declension Table can be seen on the Etruscan Phrases website. These PDF documents facilitate independent confirmation of the words in GlossaryA.xls , the Grammar and Declension Table. All words can be examined from actual images of texts on the Etruscan Phrases website. Over 150 texts, with about 6,000 words can be examined at Etruscan Phrases.

The Etruscans surfaced in Italy about 1,000 B.C., reputed to have arrived from Lydia / Phrygia. The Phrygians originated near Macedonia in Thrace, according to Herodotus. One may therefore inquire whether the ancient Thracians (Dacians, Gettae, modern Romanians), spoke a language common to the Phrygians, at the time of the Trojan War and after (~1180 B.C.). The Thracians, Phrygians and Lydians (also dead languages) were allies of the Trojans, according to the Iliad. Etruscan Phrases finds a common vocabulary among Latin, Italian, French, Romanian, Etruscan and Phrygian. While French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian are considered Romance languages, showing a similar Latin heritage, Etruscan is not, of course, a Romance language, as it preceded Latin, at least in the written form (giving Rome its alphabet).

Resolution of the Etruscan Mystery may be likened to Michael Ventris' decipherment of Linear B and Jean-François Champollion's decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics using the Rosetta Stone - written in Egyptian hieroglypics, Demotic and Greek. The decipherment of Etruscan is a bit more challenging, since we have no multilingual Rosetta Stone, but we do have enough vocabulary and grammar to establish that Etruscan is similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. (Certainly far more vocabulary and a more extensive grammar is provided in Etruscan Phrases than that used by Ventris to claim translation of Linear B as an old form of Greek)

The mirrors with the Devotional Plates may be an easy entry into an audit, for those who are hesitant to examine the larger texts, such as the Zagreb Mummy (Script Z).

Locuzioni

by Francesco Bianco

published in "Enciclopedia dell'Italiano", edited by Raffaele Simone, Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Roma, 2010, I, pp. 837-840

Nella terminologia grammaticale tradizionale locuzione è il nome generico che designa qualunque unità linguistica... more Nella terminologia grammaticale tradizionale locuzione è il nome generico che designa qualunque unità linguistica formata da più parole grafiche: per es., forze dell’ordine, prestare servizio, bello e buono, di male in peggio, fin tanto che, grazie a Dio, ecc.
Le locuzioni nascono come fenomeno di solidarietà lessicale,
nel dominio delle cosiddette collocazioni; rispetto a queste ultime, però, presentano un sovrappiù di compattezza sintattica e semantica (per es., la possibilità di sviluppare significati traslati, come nel caso delle espressioni idiomatiche; modi di dire), che ne giustifica l’assimilazione alle parole monorematiche (cioè composte da una sola parola).

Work notes on the Tavola Eugubine, Script Q (IIB), Script Q1-Q273, update 4.25.12

by Mel Copeland

The Tavola Eugubine is a series of bronze tablets found near the city of Gubbio. There are seven tablets, some of which are written on both sides. The tablets are said to be written in the Umbrian language and in Latin. The texts of the group tend to follow a common theme, that of an oration. This text is a half-page entry apparently on the back of a bronze plate (similar to that seen in the Tavola Cortonensis).

It is most interesting, since the closing remarks of the text appear to state that their ancestor Atijerius came from Ionia or Penes (Peonia?). The Ionian connection would corroborate Herodotus who recorded that the Etruscan tradition said their ancestor, Tyrsenus, son of the Lydian king Atys, came from Lydia. The archeological context of the tables (this document refers to itself as a 'table') is of interest, whether the seven bronze tablets were found in situ as one collection. If so they may apply as a record kept by a particular knight of the Etruscans who, in this case, Table IIB claims that he 'created' the town or castle which he addresses. Both KASTRV (castrum-i) and VPETV (L. oppidum-i) are used in the text.

This is an update of our work on the Tavola Eugubine, (IIB) - http://www.maravot.com/Translation_EugubineQ.html. Changes produced on this page will be added to our Etruscan GlossaryA.pdf. All of the words in the glossary follow a grammar similar to Latin. One can easily discover that the several hundred texts on Etruscan Phrases all share a common language and grammar. This controverts the prevailing theory that the Etruscan language is not an Indo-European language. It also warrants further examination of the prevailing conclusion that the Tavola Eugubine is written in the Umbrian language.

Etruscan GlossaryA.xls/pdf. is an index to about 2,300 Etruscan words that are similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. Declension patterns follow those in Latin. The 2,500 words = the repeated words in 6,000 words of the major extant texts. The texts have been frozen in time, covering ~700-400 B.C., representing a lens to understanding the early formation of Indo-European languages, particularly the early Italic-Latin-Celtic languages, such as Italian, French & Romanian / Dacian. (By 45 BC. the language was a dead language - no one understood or could write Etruscan)

This GlossaryA works together with Indo-European Table 1 which refutes theories by the Pallottino school of thought that the Etruscan language is not Indo-European and an isolate, unlike any other language. It is very close to Latin and, curiously, Romanian, Italian and French. The Latin suffix, "us" shifts to "o" as in Italian (Titus vs Tito); first person conjugation patterns are similar to French and Romanian. This GlossaryA provides a quick look at the grammatical structure of the Etruscan language, how closely it coincides with Latin. A more detailed Declension Table can be seen on the Etruscan Phrases website. These PDF documents facilitate independent confirmation of the words in GlossaryA.xls , the Grammar and Declension Table. All words can be examined from actual images of texts on the Etruscan Phrases website. Over 150 texts, with about 6,000 words can be examined at Etruscan Phrases.

The Etruscans surfaced in Italy about 1,000 B.C., reputed to have arrived from Lydia / Phrygia. The Phrygians originated near Macedonia in Thrace, according to Herodotus. One may therefore inquire whether the ancient Thracians (Dacians, Gettae, modern Romanians), spoke a language common to the Phrygians, at the time of the Trojan War and after (~1180 B.C.). The Thracians, Phrygians and Lydians (also dead languages) were allies of the Trojans, according to the Iliad. Etruscan Phrases finds a common vocabulary among Latin, Italian, French, Romanian, Etruscan and Phrygian. While French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian are considered Romance languages, showing a similar Latin heritage, Etruscan is not, of course, a Romance language, as it preceded Latin, at least in the written form (giving Rome its alphabet).

Resolution of the Etruscan Mystery may be likened to Michael Ventris' decipherment of Linear B and Jean-François Champollion's decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics using the Rosetta Stone - written in Egyptian hieroglyphics, Demotic and Greek. The decipherment of Etruscan is a bit more challenging; since we have no multilingual Rosetta stone, but we do have enough vocabulary and grammar to establish that Etruscan is similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. (Certainly far more vocabulary and a more extensive grammar are provided in Etruscan Phrases than that used by Ventris to claim translation of Linear B as an old form of Greek.)

We look forward to the time when a peer review of these Work Notes will warrant corrections to the prevailing record, showing that the Etruscan language was similar to Latin and decry the theory that the "Etruscan language is unlike any other and not an Indo-European language." The theory of a non-Indo-European Etruscan language is absolutely false.

There is a far richer record to be written of an Indo-European branch, dead as of ~400 B.C., that can shed light on the movements of the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age Italic peoples, perhaps out of southeastern Europe to Anatolia and then to Italy by sea. Herodotus, who recorded the Etruscan tradition, that they came from Lydia as a result of a long drought after the Trojan War, may be right. We mention this because there is more to be gained in sorting out the grammar at Etruscan Phrases - and possible confirmation of Herodotus - than can ever be hoped for in the bogus theory that "the Etruscan language is unlike any other language known to man." Wikipedia et al. should be corrected.

Documenti storici sulla “abbazia” di San Michele di Cervignano

by Gabriele Caiazza

published in: Michele, il guerriero celeste. L’Abbazia di S. Michele Arcangelo di Cervignano del Friuli. La storia, lo scavo, il culto, atti del convegno (Cervignano del Friuli, 28-29 settembre 2008), Cervignano del Friuli (UD) 2010, pp. 188-217

The monograph "Michael, the celestial warrior. The Abbey of St. Michael the Archangel in Cervignano of Friuli.... more The monograph "Michael, the celestial warrior. The Abbey of St. Michael the Archangel in Cervignano of Friuli. The history, the digging, the worship" - published in 2010 - contains the proceedings of the homonymous conference held in Cervignano (Udine) at the end of September 2008 on the initiative of the Aquileia Archaeological Group. On pages 188-217, the author of the essay "Historical documents on the 'Abbey' of St. Michael of Cervignano" analyzes the (few) testimonies related to the michaelic 'monasterium' riverside Ausa, the "castrum Ciruiganum" and the surrounding 'silva', the "villa de Siruiana", the 'centa' encircling the 'plebs' with its 'platea', and the "Insula Cirvignani"; also talking about a possible mention of that 'monasterium' in the eighth century, about the ancient (bell) tower, about the presumed "little church" of the eleventh century, about the remains of mosaic floors, about the ambiguities of the term 'monasterium' before the twelfth century and finally about the main stages in the history of the local 'pieve' of St. Michael the Archangel

Nel 2010 è stata data alle stampe la monografia "Michele, il guerriero celeste. L’Abbazia di S. Michele Arcangelo di Cervignano del Friuli. La storia, lo scavo, il culto", contenente gli atti del convegno omonimo svoltosi a Cervignano (Udine) alla fine di settembre del 2008 su iniziativa del Gruppo Archeologico di Aquileia. Alle pagine 188-217, trova spazio il saggio "Documenti storici sulla 'abbazia' di San Michele di Cervignano": in esso l’autore analizza le (poche) testimonianze relative al 'monasterium' micaelitico in riva al fiume Ausa, al "castrum Ciruiganum" e alla 'silva' circostante, alla "villa de Siruiana", alla 'centa' attorniante la 'plebs' con la 'platea' antistante, e alla "Insula Cirvignani"; trattando pure dell’eventuale citazione del 'monasterium' nell’VIII sec., dell’antica torre (campanaria), dell’ipotizzata "chiesetta" dell’XI sec., dei resti musivi pavimentali, della non univocità del termine 'monasterium' prima del XII sec. e infine delle principali fasi della storia della locale 'pieve' di San Michele Arcangelo

Lo “sfondo” prezioso. Villa Bresciani e il suo “ospite” più grande

by Gabriele Caiazza

published in: Il Cristo ritrovato. Dalla basilica dei Santi Felice e Fortunato di Aquileia alla cappella Bresciani di Cervignano del Friuli: confronti e restauri (atti del convegno di studi: Cervignano, 3 dicembre 2005), ed. S. Blason Scarel, Aquileia 2007, pp. 84-129 [preprint]

The symposium “The found Christ” took place in Cervignano del Friuli (Udine) on Saturday, December 3, 2005, within the... more The symposium “The found Christ” took place in Cervignano del Friuli (Udine) on Saturday, December 3, 2005, within the homonymous multi-year project (coord. scient. S. Blason Scarel and P. Casadio) dedicated to the rediscovery of the "Christ of the Countess", a colossal medieval wooden crucifix preserved in the chapel of St. Cross, the gentilitial oratory of the villa Bresciani in Cervignano. The Conference Proceedings are published two years later, enriched by further updates: in the volume the author outlines – for the first time – the history of the residence founded by the noble Bresciani family in Cervignano (the precious 'background' of the ancient sculpture) and he describes the different buildings, the dependencies and the furnishings including his famous 'guest', suggesting again the proposal that he already put forth at the symposium: that it is to be identified with the "Christ of St. Felix", a gigantic wooden crucifix seen in 1570 by the apostolic visitor Bartolomeo of Porcia & Brugnera inside the Basilica of Sts. Felix e Fortunate in Aquileia, at that time still raised although no more flourishing

Sabato 3 dicembre 2005 a Cervignano si svolse il convegno “Il Cristo ritrovato”, nell’ambito dell’omonimo progetto pluriennale (coordinamento scientifico: S. Blason Scarel - P. Casadio) dedicato alla riscoperta del “Cristo della Contessa”, il colossale crocifisso ligneo medievale conservato nella cappella di S. Croce, l’oratorio gentilizio della villa Bresciani a Cervignano. A due anni di distanza vede la luce il volume degli atti – arricchito da ulteriori aggiornamenti – al cui interno l’autore per la prima volta delinea le vicende storiche della dimora cervignanese fatta costruire dalla nobile famiglia Bresciani (il prezioso ‘sfondo’ dell’antica scultura) e ne descrive i diversi fabbricati, le pertinenze e l’arredo compreso il suo celebre ‘ospite’, riproponendo la proposta già avanzata durante il convegno: che esso sia da identificare con il “Cristo di San Felice”, il gigantesco crocifisso in legno visto dal visitatore apostolico Bartolomeo di Porcia e Brugnera nel 1570 all’interno della basilica aquileiese dei Santi Felice e Fortunato, all’epoca non più fiorente ma ancora in alzato

Music, journalism, and the study of cultural change

by Simone Varriale

in East Asia and Globalisation in Comparison. Conference Proceedings (Seoul, Chung-Ang University), pp. 97-107.

Categorie e immagini nelle dispute sull'etica dei 'savi in corte'

by Daniela Mangione

published in "Il discorso morale nella letteratura italiana. Tipologie e funzioni", a cura di V. Guarna, F. Lucioli, P. G. Riga, Roma, Bulzoni, 2011, pp. 113-129.

During the decade 1624-1634, in Barberini court a new, intense discussion about the ethics of 'intellectual' opened up... more During the decade 1624-1634, in Barberini court a new, intense discussion about the ethics of 'intellectual' opened up in academic orations and treatises, urging a deep reconsideration of the role of 'man of letters' within the court, and so refusing the idea of the Cortegiano's 'grace'. In Mascardi's, Manzini's, Pellegrini's writings the Court is no longer the place where the 'man of letter' can operate and his thought can develop; behind the ambiguous Giuliano Fabrici's speech we already perceive the new lincean and galileian idea of intellectual.

Nell'arco di un decennio, tra il 1624 e il 1634, si apre nell'ambito della corte barberiniana una fase di intensa elaborazione dell'etica dell'intellettuale. In orazioni accademiche e trattati si consuma un distacco dalla 'grazia' teorizzata dal Cortegiano e si ridiscute il ruolo del letterato in corte. Le immagini che punteggiano gli scritti di Mascardi, Manzini, Pellegrini delineano scenari in cui il topos della corte non riesce più, neanche nei testi che vorrebbero mostrarsi a favore, ad essere positivo alveo di sviluppo delle lettere e del pensiero. Esercita la propria influenza, dissimulato nel discorso di Giuliano Fabrici, il clima linceo e galileiano che già prelude agli sviluppi intellettuali che eserciteranno un'azione decisiva nel secolo seguente.

Categorie e immagini nelle dispute sull'etica dei 'savi in corte'

by Daniela Mangione

published in "Il discorso morale nella letteratura italiana. Tipologie e funzioni", a cura di V. Guarna, F. Lucioli, P. G. Riga, Roma, Bulzoni, 2011, pp. 113-129.

During the decade 1624-1634, in Barberini court a new, intense discussion about the ethics of 'intellectual' opened up... more During the decade 1624-1634, in Barberini court a new, intense discussion about the ethics of 'intellectual' opened up in academic orations and treatises, urging a deep reconsideration of the role of 'man of letters' within the court, and so refusing the idea of the Cortegiano's 'grace'. In Mascardi's, Manzini's, Pellegrini's writings the Court is no longer the place where the 'man of letter' can operate and his thought can develop; behind the ambiguous Giuliano Fabrici's speech we already perceive the new lincean and galileian idea of intellectual.

Nell'arco di un decennio, tra il 1624 e il 1634, si apre nell'ambito della corte barberiniana una fase di intensa elaborazione dell'etica dell'intellettuale. In orazioni accademiche e trattati si consuma un distacco dalla 'grazia' teorizzata dal Cortegiano e si ridiscute il ruolo del letterato in corte. Le immagini che punteggiano gli scritti di Mascardi, Manzini, Pellegrini delineano scenari in cui il topos della corte non riesce più, neanche nei testi che vorrebbero mostrarsi a favore, ad essere positivo alveo di sviluppo delle lettere e del pensiero. Esercita la propria influenza, dissimulato nel discorso di Giuliano Fabrici, il clima linceo e galileiano che già prelude agli sviluppi intellettuali che eserciteranno un'azione decisiva nel secolo seguente.

Italiani Di Sydney: Exhibition Catalogue, 30 August-7 December 2003, Museum of Sydney on the Site of First Government House

by Ilaria Vanni

Writing Italies

by Ilaria Vanni

Editor, Special Issue, Portal, Journal of Multidiscipinary International Studies, vol. 5, no. 2, 2008.

This article outlines the genealogy of 'Italian cultural studies' both as a field of research and as a set of ideas... more This article outlines the genealogy of 'Italian cultural studies' both as a field of research and as a set of ideas around culture as a way of introducing the journal special issue.

Ways of seeing: the poetics and politics of exhibiting Italian Australian cultures in Sydney

by Ilaria Vanni

Studi di Italianistica nell'Africa  Australe/Italian Studies in Southern Africa, pp. 99-121

In 2001 I was commissioned to curate an exhibition on Italian cultures in Sydney by the Museum of Sydney. I worked... more In 2001 I was commissioned to curate an exhibition on Italian cultures in Sydney by the Museum of Sydney. I worked with the museum, the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales and with many community groups, families and individuals who were influential in establishing Italian cultures in Sydney. This article traces my negotiation through institutional and community politics and aesthetics.

Giacomo Manzoni: studi, passioni e vita pubblica di un lughese nell'Italia dell'Ottocento

by Antonio Pirazzini

Passato prossimo e futuro anteriore: la classe operaia nell'immaginario collettivo italiano

by Andrea Sangiovanni

saggio in "Quaderno di storia contemporanea", Rivista dell'Istituto per la Storia della Resistenza e della Società Contemporanea in provincia di Alessandria, n. 46, 2009

Un saggio sul modo in cui la figura dell'operaio della grande fabbrica si è sedimentato nellìimmaginario collettivo... more Un saggio sul modo in cui la figura dell'operaio della grande fabbrica si è sedimentato nellìimmaginario collettivo italiano, e sulle forme della sua progressiva scomparsa 

Introduzione a Alberto Moravia, "La vita interiore", Milano, Bompiani, 2000, pp. I-XXIV - ISBN 88-452-4494-6

by Daniela Mangione

Il disagio del re di Sheherazade

by Daniela Mangione

published in: "L'oro di pongo: studi su romanzi e scritture del Novecento italiano, dal 1941 alla Guerra del Golfo fra una guerra mondiale e le star wars", Parma, Zara, 1997, pp. 50-121.

Italy: A Postbiopolitical Laboratory.

by Lorenzo Fabbri

Published in "California Italian Studies," 2:1 (2011).

On March 29, 1969, Pier Paolo Pasolini asks: “Do Novelistic Lives Still Exist?” In this article, Pasolini wonders... more On March 29, 1969, Pier Paolo Pasolini asks: “Do Novelistic Lives Still Exist?” In this article, Pasolini wonders whether the novel is still a contemporary literary form or if it is rather something which belongs to the past. He concludes that, as long as the real retains its novelistic structure, the novel will not become outdated. But why did Pasolini pose the question of the novelistic in such a time in Italian history? Pasolini was compelled by the understanding that the bourgeois consumerism dominating Italy in the 1960s tended to eliminate the novelistic from reality, forcing pre-molded destinies upon the lives of the people. It is this very homologation that puts the novel at risk: If lives are no longer novelistic, then the novel cannot be the literary device which can best tell their stories.

Yet, can those who write years after Piazza Fontana still agree with Pasolini’s historicalnarratological thesis regarding the obsoleteness of the novel? After the discovery of State terrorism, can we still believe that the bourgeois State enforces its dominion over the present by inducing an ordered standardization and repressing the novelistic structure of the real? The spectacular series of detonations which bloodied a winter market day forces us to admit that the “Italian boom” ultimately led not to the triumph of order, but to a chaos that was all too novelistic. The Italy born out of Christmas ’69, the Italy of the 1970s, must then be understood as a noir, viscous as oil and populated by a multitude of characters worthy of the best crime novels.

But if Italy truly is all of this, it would be a matter of denouncing the epos of a new governmental monster: a monster whose threat lies not in repressing the novelistic and producing disciplined uniformity, but in using lives and events that are strategically novelized to annihilate any possibility of resistance. A monster, therefore, with a “literary côté.”

In this article, I argue that Giancarlo De Cataldo’s "Romanzo criminale" is one of the most ambitious attempts to denounce exactly such a new governmental literary monster. Novelizing the deeds of the Magliana Gang – from its seizing power in the 1970s to its withering in the 1980s – is, for De Cataldo, an opportunity to chart the State’s strategies to ward off any radical change and keep Italy stuck at the gates of history.

CFP/CFA Italy in WWI: Communities and territories during the Great War

by Felicita Ratti

Cfp/Cfa.
We are looking for outstanding local case studies about communities and territories in Italy during the Great War.
Paper proposals are welcome also in English and German. Comparative studies on an European/Global level as well!

Several Italian research centres (the research centre “A. Galmozzi” Crema, the Historical Institutes ISTRESCO Treviso,... more Several Italian research centres (the research centre “A. Galmozzi” Crema, the Historical Institutes ISTRESCO Treviso, Istituto Storico Modena, IFSML Udine and ISTORECO Reggio Emilia, the Inter-university Centre for Military-historical Studies and Research and the National Association of Military Health Care – Department of Turin) invite scholars to present paper proposals for a forthcoming publication, which is planned to be published in 2013 and will contain essays under the title “Comunità e territori nella Grande Guerra”(Communities and territories during the Great War).
You will find the complete and detailled CFP in the attachment or under the link.
We are looking for outstanding local case studies about communities and territories in Italy during the Great War.
Paper proposals are welcome also in English and German. Comparative studies on an European/Global level as well!
For any doubt, don´t hesitate to ask the committee.

Roma 1922-1943. I concorsi di architettura. [Rome 1922-1943. The Architectural Competitions]

by Piero Cimbolli Spagnesi

In: L'architettura dell' "altra" modernità. Atti del XXVI Congresso di Storia dell’Architettura (Roma, 11-13 aprile 2007). M. Docci, M.G. Turco editors. Roma: Gangemi, 2010; pp. 354-375.

Indo-European Table 1, Part 9, "senata" to "Severa"

by Mel Copeland

Comparison of Etruscan words "senata" through "Severa" with other Indo-European words, such as Sanskrit, Avestan, Persian, Polish, Belarus / Slavic languages, Greek, Armenian, Romanian, Latin, Celtic, French, Italian et.al. Table 1 demonstrates how about 2,300 Etruscan words are similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. Declension patterns follow those in Latin. The 2,300 words = the repeated words in 6,000 words of the major extant texts. The texts have been frozen in time, covering ~700-400 B.C., representing a lens to understanding the early formation of Indo-European languages, particularly the early Italic-Latin-Celtic languages, such as Italian, French & Romanian / Dacian. (By 45 BC. the language was a dead language - no one understood or could write Etruscan)

Table 1 refutes theories by the Pallottino school of thought that the Etruscan language is not Indo-European and an isolate, unlike any other language. It is very close to Latin and, curiously, Romanian, Italian and French. The Latin suffix, "us" shifts to "o" as in Italian (Titus vs Tito); first person conjugation patterns are similar to French and Romanian. The Etruscans surfaced in Italy about 1,000 B.C., reputed to have arrived from Lydia / Phrygia. The Phrygians originated near Macedonia in Thrace, according to Herodotus. One may therefore inquire whether the ancient Thracians (Dacians, Gettae, modern Romanians), spoke a language common to the Phrygians, at the time of the Trojan War and after (~1180 B.C.). The Thracians , Phrygians and Lydians (also dead languages) were allies of the Trojans, according to the Iliad. Etruscan Phrases finds a common vocabulary between Latin, Italian, French, Romanian, Etruscan and Phrygian. While French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian are considered Romance languages, showing a similar Latin heritage, Etruscan is not, of course, a Romance language, as it preceded Latin, at least in the written form (giving Rome its alphabet).

Paul Heyse als Übersetzer und Vermittler der italienischen Literatur in Deutschland

by Roberto Bertozzi

in R. BERBIG - W. HETTCHE (a cura di), Paul Heyse. Ein Schriftsteller zwischen Deutschland und Italien, Bern, Peter Lang, 2001, pp. 31-52