SOURCE: Rosengarten, Frank. “Vasco Pratolini's Una Storia Italiana and the Question of Literary Realism.” Italica 40 (1963): 62-72.

In the following essay, Rosengarten places Pratolini in the mainstream of social and historical realism, noting Pratolini's insistence on historical context in realistic fiction.

In the trilogy Una Storia Italiana, Vasco Pratolini has undertaken the task of describing various aspects and phases of Italian life from 1875 to 1945. The first two volumes, Metello¹ and Lo Scialo,² were published respectively in 1955 and 1960. The third volume, on which Pratolini is now at work, has been tentatively entitled I Fidanzati del Mugnone, and is scheduled to appear in 1964. Metello describes the origin and development of the working class movement in Italy, and covers the years 1875 to 1902. Lo Scialo depicts the rise and triumph of the Fascist movement, and covers the period 1910 to 1930. I Fidanzati del Mugnone will deal with the period 1930 to 1945.

The Crisis of Neorealism and the Genesis of Gi; the Crisis of Neorealism and the Genesis of una Storia Italiana =~ Suna Storia Italiana