"Paradise Lost on the Hills above Alba: Nostalgia in Fenoglio's <em>Una" by Megan Crognale
 

Document Type

Article

Article Version

Post-print

Publication Date

3-1-2020

Abstract

When Beppe Fenoglio's partisan novel Una questione privata was first published in 1963, critics immediately took issue with its foregrounding of romance over Resistance Literature's more established form of chronological testimony. Indeed, from the moment the protagonist Milton sets foot in his beloved Fulvia's villa, he withdraws from his responsibilities as a partisan fighter in the Italian Resistance in order to discover the truth about her alleged betrayal. Though his quest has often been construed as nothing more than a boyish escape from his obligations, this study reinterprets Milton's nostalgia as a more radical form of resistance: Milton's choice to dwell in paradise lost is a refusal to participate in the dehumanizing machinery of war. Relying on his nostalgia as a compass, Milton reorients himself towards home as a means of rediscovering and maintaining his humanity.

Comments

Copyright © 2020 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Publication Title

Italica

Published Citation

Crognale, Megan. "Paradise Lost on the Hills above Alba: Nostalgia in Fenoglio's Una questione privata." Italica 97, no. 1 (2020): 50-73. https://doi.org/10.5406/23256672.97.1.04

DOI

10.5406/23256672.97.1.04

Peer Reviewed

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