Voicing the Word: Writing Orality in Contemporary Italian Fiction

by Marina Spunta

Overview

Drawing on the recent renewal of interest in the debate on orality and literacy this book investigates the varying perceptions and representations of orality in contemporary Italian fiction, providing a fresh perspective on this rich and fast-developing debate and on the study of the Italian literary language. The book brings together a number of complementary approaches to orality from the fields of linguistics, literary and media studies and offers a detailed analysis of a broad variety of authors and texts that appeared over the last three decades - ranging from internationally acclaimed writers such as Celati, Duranti and Tabucchi, through De Luca and Baricco, to the latest generation of writers, such as Campo, Ballestra and Nove. By exploring the complementary facets of Italian orality, and its diachronical developments since the seventies, this study questions the traditionally dichotomic approach to the study of orality and literacy and posits a more flexible, cross-modal approach that accounts for the increasing hybridisation of text forms and media and for the greater interaction between the spoken and the written as well as their representations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783039102518
Publisher:	Peter Lang AG, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Publication date:	06/14/2004
Pages:	362
Product dimensions:	5.91(w) x 8.66(h) x (d)

About the Author

The Author: Marina Spunta received her first degree in Modern Languages from the University of Bologna in 1992. She was awarded her MPhil in Applied Linguistics from the University of Exeter in 1997 and her Ph.D. in Italian Studies from the University of Birmingham in 2003. She lectures in Italian at the University of Leicester. Her research focuses on contemporary fiction, linguistics and cinema. She has published on writers such as Benati, Celati, De Luca, Duranti and Tabucchi and she is currently co-editing a volume of essays on orality and literacy in contemporary Italian culture.

Table of Contents

Contents: The Facets of Orality – Gianni Celati’s Cinema Naturale: Ascoltare/Parlare il Visibile – The Language of Geometry: Spoken and Dialogic Style in the Fiction of Francesca Duranti – Antonio Tabucchi’s Dialoghi Mancati – La Voce Scritta: Storytelling and Silence in the Fiction of Erri De Luca – Baricco’s Tales: the Visual Music of the Voice – The ‘Young’ Orality of the Nineties: Campo, Ballestra, and Nove – ‘New’ Media Orality: a Case Study – Conclusions: Re-Visions of Orality.