Italian Reactionary Thought and Critical Theory - by A Righi (Hardcover)

About the Book

"This book is a critical intervention in the recent turn to life of contemporary critical theory that investigates the centrality of the concept of origin in twentieth-century Italian culture from a feminist perspective. It discusses how, in the wake of the crisis of Western culture, Italian Reaction elaborated a savage vitalism that incorporated the archaic as it expropriated the feminine dimension of origin. Carlo Levi's reflection on the crisis of the patriarchal order instead represents an attempt to critique the ways in which power recuperates and inscribes life into its mechanisms of control"--

Book Synopsis

In the last decade or so, a wave of Italian thinkers has broken ground for new theoretical inquiries that poignantly interpret the turn to life that characterizes present philosophical research. Italian Reactionary Thought offers a critical intervention into this trend by investigating the centrality of the concept of origin in twentieth-century Italian culture from a feminist perspective. In the wake of the crisis of Western culture, Italy gave rise to fascism as a savage vitalism that incorporated the archaic as it expropriated the feminine dimension of origin. With a critique of the works of theorists Giovanni Papini, Romano Bilenchi, Curzio Malaparte, and a novel appraisal of Carlo Levi, Andrea Righi boldly suggests that it may be possible to understand mortality without turning it into a technology of oppression.

About the Author

Andrea Righi is the author of Biopolitics and Social Change in Italy: From Gramsci to Pasolini to Negri (2011) and Assistant Professor of Italian, Colorado College, USA.