Contemporary literature

The post-war period in Sardinia was characterized by the “return” to an albeit limited form of self-government. In 1948, the Italian Republic granted Sardinia the status of an Autonomous Region with a Special Statute with its own executive and a regional council capable of legislating.

The cultural debate focuses on the role of intellectuals in the process of 'Rebirth' of the island. In particular, the experience of the magazine 'Ichnusa' (1949-62) directed by Antonio Pigliaru, an intellectual who writes 'The Barbarian Revenge as a Legal Order', takes on importance. The legacy of Antonio Gramsci's thought in Sardinia is also very strong because of the island's presence in the writings of the anti-fascist intellectual. Apart from Giuseppe Dessì, Salvatore Cambosu and Salvatore Satta, Franco Solinas, Maria Giacobbe, Paride Rombi, Giuseppe Fiori, Gonario Pinna, Francesco Masala, Antonio Cossu, Francesco Zedda, Antonio Cossu, Francesco Zedda, Antonio Puddu stand out for creating literary works in Italian. The failure of the petrochemical industry, in which it was intended to invest the enormous financial interventions of State aid, generated from the seventies onwards a widespread sense of distrust towards the new autonomous era. The use of the Sardinian language (threatened with extinction by the new mass media) is rediscovered and a movement is created for its recognition as an official language. Michelangelo Pira for literature in Sardinian, and Sergio Atzeni for that in Italian, open up new seasons and perspectives.
According to Giovanni Pirodda, one of the most successful literary historians, for a certain period, around the seventies, the publication of works by a Sardinian author coincided with a certain “idea” of Sardinia. A vision of a mythical, isolated, wild place out of history. Perhaps this is why Salvatore Satta's “Judgment Day” and Gavino Ledda's “Master Father” become literary cases. Neo-Sardism, a political-cultural trend that claims a different status by language, identity and sovereignty of the island, leads to a reinvigoration of literature in “limba” that slowly discovers the path of prose written in the form of a novel. For prose in Italian, Salvatore Mannuzzu stood out in the eighties with “Procedure” and Giulio Angioni with “Fraus's Gold”, who founded, in some way, a crime fiction based on police investigation. Even Bachisio Zizi with 'Erthole' and Michele Columbu with 'Without a Why' manage to stand out. In recent years, Sardinian literary production has expanded dramatically (in particular that based on police investigation), proposing various names and titles on which literary critics have not yet expressed definitive judgments. Until the emblematic case of the writer Nicola Lecca, a Cagliari native by birth, who achieves a certain national fame, but completely cancels sardity in his work as the measure and essence of writing. A tendency to cross island borders that clashes and coexists with the constant work of intellectuals working on the theme of the island's identity.

Update

9/4/2025 - 12:19