Title: We, The Europeans: Italian Essays on Postcolonialism Author: Armando Gnisci Editor: Matthew F. Rusnak Translator: Matthew F. Rusnak Series: Thinking European Worlds Imprint: The Davies Group, Publishers  pp. 128 soft cover USD 18.00 ISBN 978-1934542378 Pub date: 8/1/2014 What   role   has   Italy   played   in   the   creation   of   an   imperialistic   society?      How   is   Italy   responding   to   the   changing   ethnic   landscape?   What   role   does   literature   play   in   the   heated   political questions   of   racial   integration   and   multiculturalism?   In   what   terms   can   we   consider   the   Mediterranean   as   both   a   historical   concept   and   a   literary   rubric?      These   are   just   a   few   of   the challenging   questions   raised   by   Armando   Gnisci,   in   We,   The   Europeans:   Italian   Essays   on   Postcolonialism ,   a   collection   of   essays   in   translation   that   investigate   with   candor   and   historical understanding   how   Italy   is   responding   to   the   burden   of   its   colonial   past.   Eschewing   traditional   notions   of   the   Italian   literary   canon   that   he   considers   fundamentally   flawed,   Gnisci argues   for   the   importance   of   a   more   expansive   notion   of   literature,   one   that   emphasizes   cultural   shifts,   exchanges,   insecurities,   and   linguistic   polyphony.   With   historical   erudition   and moral   conscience,   Gnisci   follows   Sartre   and   Fanon   in   extolling   a   new   way   of   seeing   globally   through   the   lens   of   world   literature.   Gnisci’s   point   of   view   calls   attention   to   many   of   the most   pressing   and   troubling   issues   currently   facing   Italian   society,   as   the   increase   in   immigration   has   triggered   political   controversies   and   polemics.   These   essays,   available   for   the   first time in English, bring to the audience a new perspective on the subject of Postcolonialism, one distinctly European and manifestly Italian. Contents Introduction: Comparative Literature: An Italian Perspective Chapter 1  Rome as a System of Ruins Chapter 2 Comparative Literature as a Discipline of Decolonialization Chapter 3 The European Meaning of Postcolonialism Chapter 4 The Question of Eurocentrism Chapter 5 The Mediterranean as Interliterary Web Chapter 6 Italian Literature of Migration Chapter 7 noialtri, europei  Chapter 8 Decolonizing Italy Notes For Further Reading Index Comments “Gnisci offers us a concise, important, and original analysis regarding post-colonialism, ethnicity, Italian (national) identity, cultural theory . . .  a provocative and experimental, imaginative yet rigorous, significant contribution to rethinking the ‘decolonization’ of Italy and Europe.” Ron Scapp, President, The National Association for Ethnic Studies Editor of  Ethnic Studies Review “Gnisci questions the rigid cartographies of European and Italian modernity from the perspectives of the margins and the peripheries of all regions of the world. . . . compelling and inspiring reading for scholars of migration and diasporic studies, philosophy, history, and literature.” Norma Bouchard, The University of Connecticut, Storrs “Gnisci’s work deconstructs the dominant Western paradigm of cultural analysis and replaces it with a globalistic vision that takes into account what was once the unaccounted. Strident and firm in his convictions, his reader learns to look otherwise and hence understand differently the current social and cultural situation in Europe.” Anthony Julian Tamburri, Dean John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, Queens College, CUNY   The Author Armando Gnisci is the author of over forty books on comparative literature. His many works include the authoritative Manuale storico di letteratura comparata (Meltemi, 1997). He is considered one of the most important literary critics in Italy. The editor and translator M. F. Rusnak holds a PhD in Italian from Rutgers University.  He is a translator and literary historian specializing in Anglo-Italian literary exchange.