California Italian Studies

Italian postcolonial literature has been one of the most historically relevant, culturally incisive, and artistically revitalizing phenomena to emerge in the past twenty-five years. It has provided a symbolic representation of the many social changes that took place in Italy during this period, encouraging society to rethink itself and to conceive of migrants to Italy and subsequent generations of new Italians in ways that go far beyond rejection and victimization. This essay is a tribute to the cultural and literary relevance of Italian postcolonial literature and to its crucial role as part of contemporary Italian culture.