California Italian Studies

In March 2008 Wu Ming 1 (nom de plume of Roberto Bui) had singled out a large number of works published between 1993-2008. He suggested that they constituted a New Italian Epic. The memorandum first appeared on the web and it immediately stirred a lively debate. The print edition (Einaudi, 2009) has brought further attention and criticism to this work. Our article deals with both the controversy surrounding this text and the overarching theory put forth in Wu Ming 1's essay. We offer a theoretical approach that readers might find helpful if they are attempting to understand current trends in Italian literature. In particular, we tackle the question of "realism," and the neo-epic contours of Italia De Profundis (by Giuseppe Genna) and Gomorra (by Roberto Saviano).