Città Versus City: The Globalized Habitat of Alessandro Baricco

Authors: Rorato, Laura; Storchi, Simona

Source: Romance Studies, Volume 22, Number 3, November 2004 , pp. 251-262(12)

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Abstract:

Through analysis of some general concepts such as space, place, environment and landscape and, more specifically, house and home, this article argues that the traditional concept of città, where space and time fonn a harmonious and meaningful entity, is no longer suitable to express the globalized, metropolitan reality of many Italian cities. Baricco's use of an English noun (City) to indicate the nameless location in which his novel is set is certainly not accidental: it shows how space is becoming increasingly less geographically determined and how, in order to portray the postmodern fragmented reality of much of our lived environment, we must refer to concepts that were traditionally alien to a country like Italy. Though accepting the inevitability of the process of globalization, Baricco encourages a quest for new meanings. In line with Celati's notion of 'archaeological thought' or with the views of the philosophers of the pensiero debole, Baricco seems to suggests that only by focusing on what is different and has been ignored by history or tradition can we discern alternatives and eventually create new 'tools' for interpreting reality.

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/026399004786542906

Publication date: 2004-11-01

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