Gli anni Settanta tra violenza di genere e decostruzione del maschile: La scuola cattolica di Edoardo Albinati

Abstract

In his recent novel, La scuola cattolica (2016), Edoardo Albinati constructs through autofiction a complex discourse on the ‘anthropological change’ that occurred in Italy during the 1970s. This article explores how, by placing the notorious ‘Circeo crime’ (Rome, 1975) at the centre of his story, the author deconstructs the processes by which capitalism in Italy variously effected social transformation, and his exploration of a violence based on the cult of machismo and masculinity. In this respect the Catholic school functions as one of the factors contributing to the failed construction of masculine identity in this period, and the promotion of the phenomenon of gender-based violence which aims at preventing women’s emancipation from a patriarchal and phallocentric society. It is argued that Albinati, while initially adopting historical-cultural premises which coincide with Pasolini’s last works, is ultimately influenced by certain theories from feminist criticism (especially Raewyn W. Connell and Dacia Maraini). Albinati shows that now, as then, there are still profound differences in gender in Italian society.

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