In corpore: Bodies in Post-Unification Italy

In Corpore collects essays devoted to the critical exploration of the presence and impact of bodies in recent and contemporary Italian cultural production, in the light of current developments in thinking about bodies and their locations within cultures. The prominent position occupied by the body in Italian culture is at once undeniable and problematic. Whether we are talking of models of masculinity, of gendered roles within the Italian family, or of the infamous cliche of the "bella figura," the tendency is for such images to produce unified, singular interpretations of "Italian culture" and to assign stable locations to "Italian bodies" within it. The essays included in the present volume assume a plurality of conceptions of "culture" and of "the body." A variety of media and their specific modes of representations are bought into focus, from the visual arts, to cinema, literature, travel writing, "scientific" prose, documentary photography, and even X-rays. What emerges is a variegated picture of "Italian bodies," their pleasures, and their tribulations.