Letteratura e dialetti. Rivista internazionale. 1. 2008

It has been written that Italian literature is the only one in which dialect is so closely integrated into the language. In effect, depriving it of the works of Ruzante, Basile, Meli, Calvo, Porta, Belli, Pascarella, Di Giacomo, Marin and Loi, of Pasolini from Friuli and Zanzotto from Treviso would be a serious amputation, wouldn't it be? Would our theatre not become faded and impoverished if we 'Italianized' its multicoloured works in dialect, from the commedia dell'arte to Goldoni's plays, and more? However, until now there has been no scholarly journal characterized by academic rigor devoted to this vital part of our past and our literary present. To fill this gap, we offer a new publication, "Letteratura e dialetti". It is issued annually and deals with literature in dialect in the strictest sense (usually dated from the 1500s on) but it will also take into account of that function-dialect that has been recognized to exist from the very beginning (the inscription of San Clemente, Bonvesin, Cronica by the Anonymous Roman, etc.). The horizon is also extensive in a linguistic sense: in addition to 'pure' dialect literature, we explore the dialect in macaronic or expressivist cocktails (Folengo, Gadda, Meneghello) and dialectic tendencies within the language (Verga, Pavese), to the various forms of pastiche. The journal is divided into three sections: Saggi e studi (articles of a historical or critical-interpretative nature), Testi e commenti (critical and/or annotated editions, textual analysis, unpublished texts by ancient as well as living authors, if important and appropriately presented, as well as retrieved and illustrated 'historical' essays); the third section is Recensioni e schede, detailing creative works and those of a historicalcritical nature. The journal aims at beeing an annual meeting for all intrested scholars and enthusiasts, a reference point and comparison open to articles, and the current dilettantism prevalent in so many verse and prose works where dialect is important.