In and Out of the Cocoon : Reflections of a Literary Scholar on a Bootless Italy

The current transnational and diasporic trend in “outward” Italian studies challenges the conventional wisdom of an Italo-centric curriculum and opens up new perspectives in a variety of ways, while positing a more complex cultural scenario, in the light of contemporary massive migrations affecting Italy and Europe. The contribution tries to test some of these questions, taking its cue from a number of literary and historiographical sources, advocating for a wider approach to a cultural study of things Italian, and for a more nuanced and unprejudiced adoption of academic labels and categories.