Calvino in Algeria: una ricognizione della sua ricezione e dei suoi ambiti di influenza

Abstract

Since 2023, the centenary year of Italo Calvino’s birth, Algeria has witnessed a renewed interest in the Italian writer through the organisation of three popular events. This marks a rediscovery of the author, since before and during the Algerian War, Italian writers were studied together with French writers from an affinity perspective. Calvino ceased to have an impact on the general public at a time when the French language and culture were losing their primacy in the country. This study examines the problematic and uneven reception of Calvino in Algeria, starting with a reflection on the languages and editions in which he is read and studied, and then analysing his literary and cultural influence on Algerian writers, journalists and intellectuals, and finally in the academic sphere. The lack of public interest in Calvino and in Arabic translations of his works is a consequence of the problematic sociolinguistic situation in the country and the role of the French language. Calvino has influenced the imagination of many Algerian writers, intellectuals and journalists and is considered an international classic. In academic circles, he is a model for the teaching of Italian language, literature and culture: Calvino’s most studied works are Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno and Fiabe italiane, both dedicated to historical events or cultural aspects of Italy. For Algerian students, Calvino is a model of civic, cultural and intellectual commitment. The Italian writer, who lived through the partisan struggle, a war of resistance and left a literary testimony, is very close to the historical-cultural sensibility of the North African country. The study of the Fiabe is a study within a whole folkloric heritage that tells of the origins of a people.