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ABSTRACTS

“Dying according to the rules.” The Intellectuals of Diana at the
Front
MARTINA VOLPE
As Italy went into war against Austria in May 1915, a large number of
intellectuals took part in the conflict and sustained the military offen-
sive. The futurist movement activated creative energies in all quarters,
and the literary reviews were animated by a great boldness. In this
context, the publication of Diana especially stands out – a journal pub-
lished in Naples between 1915 and 1917 with Gherardo Marone as its
leading figure. Its 25 issues project two different images of the journal:
favourable to the conflict and its rationale before its outbreak, it then
became a place where to express collective disappointment: in the
trenches, the contributors of Diana experienced the desperation of all
youths of their generation and created a new essential poetry.
This essay focusses on the transition from futurist to a modern poetic
culture, examining works published in the journal and unpublished
le ers enlisted journal collaborators sent to Gherardo Marone. As well
as bringing to light the cultural merits of Diana, it is an opportunity to
reappraise the work of some young writers, like Mario Cestaro and
Annunzio Cervi, who died in the Great War.

“I want to be free of the remorse that weighs on me.”
Alberto Savinio and the Great War
GIULIA FERRI
One of the reasons Alberto Savinio took part in World War I lies in his
quest for identity and his need to recognise himself as part of the Ital-
ian nation. He enlisted in the army in 1915 and spent two years in Fer-
rara in a military office. Distressed by this protracted inertia and want-
ing to actively contribute to the process of renewal he hoped the war
would produce, he obtained to be sent to the Greek front and arrived
in Thessaloniki in the summer of 1917, but had to se le for a simple
translation job. So he unloaded all of his frustration in writing: on the

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