Experiences, Images and Political Reflections on the First World War in Italian Interwar Literature

In this article, the author explains how, in the years between the two world wars, Italian war veterans described to their reading public what they experienced during the conflict. I believe that a general analysis of Italian interventionism, of the expectations it created and the disappointments over a conflict that was showing the nation's unpreparedness, still remains of great importance. The present article will not only show the extent to which Italian war literature was permeated by piety and emotion towards comrades and, sometimes, enemies who shared the devastating ordeal of the trenches, it will also highlight how it was pervaded by political implications that were peculiar to Italian social and political conditions of the time.