Episodi delle carriera di un eccentrico: Gadda e le riviste negli anni Quaranta

By analysing Carlo Emilio Gadda’s contributions in 1940s literary journals, this article traces the development of his literary career and his positionings in the political debate of the time. The article examines the close relationship with Letteratura, and the networks of journals and publishers, through which Gadda, as a nouvel entrant in the literary field, sought to define, yet with many economic difficulties, his own identity as a professional writer. Gadda’s contributions are also used as a lens to read his relationship with Fascism, spanning furious exposition, attempts to find a space in the conservative cultural milieu, and the covering up of his previous support to the regime. The earlier version of Quer Pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana, and the essays published in Letteratura and Il Mondo represent a lucid response to the rising communist and neorealist trend, in order to promote a conservative politics and defend the waning literary modernism.