Abstract
Malerba's historical novel represents an important literary contribution to Italian post-modernism. This article examines how Il fuoco greco (1990), a metanarrative fiction, marks a turning point in Italian historical narration by inscribing and contesting postmodernist norms (for example irony, fabulation, and labyrinthine intertextual frameworks) in much the same way as earlier postmodernist texts were seen to inscribe and contest traditional narrative device. Crucially, the novel resists any positive vision of postmodernist historiographical discourse and practice in favour of an extended criticism of the manner in which postmodernism's heightened insistence on fictionality begets an ever-expanding and inescapable prison, which reduces and restricts discourse itself.
| Translated title of the contribution | Fiction as Imprisonment in Luigi Malerba's 'Il fuoco greco' |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Pages (from-to) | 72 - 82 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Modern Language Review |
| Volume | 97 (1) |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2002 |