Re-discovering Alessandro Spina’s Transculture/ality in The Young Maronite
Alessandro Spina, né Basili Shafik Khouzam, was born in Benghazi in 1927 into a family of Maronites from Aleppo and spent most of his life between Libya and Italy, speaking several languages and writing in Italian. He may be described as the “unsung” writer of Italian colonial and post-colonial past...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2016-06-01
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| Series: | Humanities |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/5/2/42 |
| _version_ | 1811318847238569984 |
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| author | Arianna Dagnino |
| author_facet | Arianna Dagnino |
| author_sort | Arianna Dagnino |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Alessandro Spina, né Basili Shafik Khouzam, was born in Benghazi in 1927 into a family of Maronites from Aleppo and spent most of his life between Libya and Italy, speaking several languages and writing in Italian. He may be described as the “unsung” writer of Italian colonial and post-colonial past in North Africa. Spina’s oeuvre—collected in an omnibus edition, I confini dell’ombra. In terra d’oltremare (Morcelliana)—charts the history of Libya from 1911, when Italy invaded the Ottoman province, to 1966, when the country witnessed the economic boom sparked by the petrodollars. The cycle was awarded the Premio Bagutta, Italy’s highest literary accolade. In 2015, Darf Press published in English the first instalment of Spina’s opus with the title The Confines of the Shadows. In Lands Overseas. Spina always refused to be pigeonholed in some literary category and to be labeled as a colonial or postcolonial author. As a matter of fact, his works go beyond the spatial and imaginary boundaries of a given state or genre, emphasizing instead the mixing and collision of languages, cultures, identities, and forms of writing. Reading and re-discovering Spina in a transcultural mode brings to light the striking newness of his literary efforts, in which transnational lived life, creative imagination, and transcultural sensibility are inextricably interlaced. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T12:32:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1eeecc9313ff4dd79015dfe4c86cdb6c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-0787 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T12:32:21Z |
| publishDate | 2016-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Humanities |
| spelling | doaj.art-1eeecc9313ff4dd79015dfe4c86cdb6c2022-12-22T02:46:47ZengMDPI AGHumanities2076-07872016-06-01524210.3390/h5020042h5020042Re-discovering Alessandro Spina’s Transculture/ality in The Young MaroniteArianna Dagnino0Department of French, Hispanic and Italian Studies, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, CanadaAlessandro Spina, né Basili Shafik Khouzam, was born in Benghazi in 1927 into a family of Maronites from Aleppo and spent most of his life between Libya and Italy, speaking several languages and writing in Italian. He may be described as the “unsung” writer of Italian colonial and post-colonial past in North Africa. Spina’s oeuvre—collected in an omnibus edition, I confini dell’ombra. In terra d’oltremare (Morcelliana)—charts the history of Libya from 1911, when Italy invaded the Ottoman province, to 1966, when the country witnessed the economic boom sparked by the petrodollars. The cycle was awarded the Premio Bagutta, Italy’s highest literary accolade. In 2015, Darf Press published in English the first instalment of Spina’s opus with the title The Confines of the Shadows. In Lands Overseas. Spina always refused to be pigeonholed in some literary category and to be labeled as a colonial or postcolonial author. As a matter of fact, his works go beyond the spatial and imaginary boundaries of a given state or genre, emphasizing instead the mixing and collision of languages, cultures, identities, and forms of writing. Reading and re-discovering Spina in a transcultural mode brings to light the striking newness of his literary efforts, in which transnational lived life, creative imagination, and transcultural sensibility are inextricably interlaced.http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/5/2/42transculturalitytranscultural novelsworld literatureItalian literatureLibyacolonialismmobilityidentityunbelongingtranslation |
| spellingShingle | Arianna Dagnino Re-discovering Alessandro Spina’s Transculture/ality in The Young Maronite Humanities transculturality transcultural novels world literature Italian literature Libya colonialism mobility identity unbelonging translation |
| title | Re-discovering Alessandro Spina’s Transculture/ality in The Young Maronite |
| title_full | Re-discovering Alessandro Spina’s Transculture/ality in The Young Maronite |
| title_fullStr | Re-discovering Alessandro Spina’s Transculture/ality in The Young Maronite |
| title_full_unstemmed | Re-discovering Alessandro Spina’s Transculture/ality in The Young Maronite |
| title_short | Re-discovering Alessandro Spina’s Transculture/ality in The Young Maronite |
| title_sort | re discovering alessandro spina s transculture ality in the young maronite |
| topic | transculturality transcultural novels world literature Italian literature Libya colonialism mobility identity unbelonging translation |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/5/2/42 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ariannadagnino rediscoveringalessandrospinastransculturealityintheyoungmaronite |