Hemingway, Vittorini, and the Gramscian “Nazionale-Popolare”

Abstract

1946 witnessed the cultural and political debate between the Italian Communist Party (PCI) and the journal “Il Politecnico”,
edited by Elio Vittorini. The PCI criticized “Il Politecnico” for being “intellectualist” and for intensifying the crevice between intellectuals
and the people, thus contradicting the journal’s initial premises, that is, the creation of a new culture. The PCI’s grounds were based on
the publication of the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway. The American novelist was incapable, according to the PCI,
of understanding and narrating beyond his own immediate and egotistical impressions.The existing turmoil between the world of culture
and the masses constitutes one of Antonio Gramsci’s fundamental themes, especially if we consider the concept of “nazionalepopolare”,
which underlies the entire debate mentioned above. Persuaded that the PCI’s position derives, not only from a wrong
theoretical approach, but also from a critical error in the judgment of the American writer, I will analyze the author under the light of the
gramscian category of “nazionale-popolare”. My main purpose is to suggest new means of comprehending the importance of
Hemingway to Vittorini and his generation (Pavese, in primis, down to Calvino), and to read under an innovative perspective the
relevance of American literature to the Italian culture of the mid-twentieth century.