What are the most important works of the twentieth century?

If the twentieth century was a period of great artistic and cultural ferment for Italy and Montale, Pirandello, Ungaretti, Calvino and Svevo were some of the most representative exponents, one wonders what were the most important works for the history of Italian literature

In this article of the blog of Teach me Italian we will try to learn more about the main works of Italian literature of the '900 and how this has influenced world literature. From "La coscienza di Zeno" to "Il Gattopardo" passing through "L'isola di Arturo" and "Le città invisibili", just to mention some of the most representative works. The twentieth century, as mentioned, was a very fertile period for Italian literature, which saw the emergence of many writers and poets of great talent, among them we count several Nobel prizes in Literature. Many personalities have left an indelible mark, including some of the most famous poets of our time. The works written during this period of great intellectual fervor and social change, have not only represented the thoughts of individual authors: they have in fact generated a cultural and social heritage still important for Italy.

There would be so many works to cite and we know right now that we will do wrong to someone by not including him in this list. But here are some of the most important literary works of the twentieth century in Italy, in no particular order:

• "Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno" di Italo Calvino (1947);

• "La coscienza di Zeno" di Italo Svevo (1923);

• "Se questo è un uomo" di Primo Levi (1947);

• "Il Gattopardo" di Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (1958);

• "Gli indifferenti" di Alberto Moravia (1929);

• "I promessi sposi" di Alessandro Manzoni (1827);

• "Il deserto dei Tartari" di Dino Buzzati (1940);

• "L'isola di Arturo" di Elsa Morante (1957);

• "Le cosmicomiche" di Italo Calvino (1965);

• "La luna e i falò" di Cesare Pavese (1950);

• "La storia" di Elsa Morante (1974);

• "Le città invisibili" di Italo Calvino (1972);

• "Il nome della rosa" di Umberto Eco (1980);

• "Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore" di Luigi Pirandello (1921).

Of course, as mentioned, there are many other important works that could be included in this list. Italian literature of the twentieth century was very varied and nuanced, and many works had a significant impact on Italian and international culture and society. Wanting to take a step back in time we will then try to immerse ourselves in nineteenth-century Sicily, first, and to push ourselves to the boundaries of the known world, then.

"Il Gattopardo" by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, for example, was a very important novel for Italian literature for many reasons. First, the book was a huge commercial success and won the prestigious Premio Strega in 1959, just a year after the author's death. Secondly, the novel helped to renew the genre of the historical novel in Italy, breaking with traditional patterns and introducing new narrative techniques.

But perhaps the most important aspect of the book is its accurate and profound portrayal of nineteenth-century Sicilian society. "Il Gattopardo" is a historical novel set during the period of the Italian Risorgimento, which tells the story of Prince Salina and his Sicilian noble family who are confronted with the arrival of united Italy. Lampedusa not only describes with great precision the environment, culture and traditions of Sicily of that time, but also makes a very acute psychological portrait of the main characters, showing their contradictions, their inner conflicts and their aspirations.

In this way, "Il Gattopardo" has become a symbol of the crisis of the Italian aristocracy and its decline, but also of Italy's difficulty in becoming a united and modern nation. The book therefore had a great impact on twentieth-century Italian culture, inspiring films, plays and many other literary works.

“Le città invisibili” by Italo Calvino it is considered an innovative work for its non-linear structure and for its formal experimentation. The novel presents itself as a series of conversations between Marco Polo and the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan, in which Marco Polo describes imaginary, exotic and surreal cities.

Calvino's work reflects on the universal themes of humanity, such as perception, imagination, memory, identity and the nature of language. The book stands as an investigation into the human condition, through the description of cities that do not exist, but that metaphorically represent the different facets of reality. For a literature that has been able to go beyond the themes known until then and focus as a natural precursor of events, wisely told often through metaphors by the founding fathers of Italian literature of the twentieth century.