Vittorio Sereni is a crucial figure in the landscape of twentieth-century Italian poetry. His work engages at length with questions of identity, the limits of language and selfhood, and the role of poetry in the modern world. One of the poets of the so-called

terza generazione

[third generation], which includes Giorgio Caproni, Mario Luzi, and Attilio Bertolucci, Sereni stands out for his commitment to charting new territories for the lyric “I”. These comprise his creative cross-fertilization of poetry and prose, which allows his lyric to adapt to more narrative and dialogic modes of expression, and his reframing of a poetics of desire that has animated the Italian lyric tradition from its beginning. In turn, Sereni’s work as a prose writer, literary editor, critic, and translator,…

3239 words

Citation: Southerden, Francesca. "Vittorio Sereni". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 January 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13697, accessed 28 March 2024.]

13697 Vittorio Sereni 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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