La testimonianza di Domenico Rea: tra denuncia della Guerra e indagine antropologica

Abstract

In 1947, a text destined to mark Neapolitan literature appeared, published by Mondadori: Spaccanapoli by Domenico Rea. This collection of short stories shook up the cultural scene of the time with the rawness and, at the same time, the lucidity of its narration. The importance of Rea’s stories lies in two factors: the first is the extraordinary ability of his writing to adhere to reality. Rea writes about the war while it is still raging, revealing its most controversial aspects. Publishing in 1947 means delivering a direct, immediate and therefore spontaneous testimony to the press. A second element of interest in Rea’s writing originates in his desire to go beyond the narration of the present: underlying the denunciation of those years there seems to be, in his accounts, an anthropological interest in the Neapolitan population. The aim of this article is precisely to highlight these two aspects of Spaccanapoli: on the one hand, therefore, its value as a direct testimony, and on the other, a piece of anthropological research that goes beyond the phenomenon of war and attempts to grasp the Neapolitan popular identity, showing us aspects and values of a pre-literate world.

Keywords

• Rea (Domenico)
• post-war
• Neapolitan literature
• plebe
• anthropological investigation