Storia della letteratura italiana e storia d'Italia

Abstract

The essay reconstructs the longue durée of De Sanctis’s legacy in the Italian pedagogical tradition, showing the extent to which his Storia della letteratura italiana has permeated the relationship between literature and national identity in Italy, even when it was simply reasserted, or betrayed. Things have changed since the 1990s, especially with the advent of media power in politics, but Italians continue to be educated within the mythology of a literature that constructs the nation, which stems from De Sanctis’s lesson: is there any way to make a step forward without renouncing the privileged position of literature in the formation of Italian public discourse?