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This Element discusses the presence of ruins in contemporary environmental imagination. Contemporary ruins, much more than those that served as constituents of Romantic and Gothic aesthetics, simultaneously express a fascination with and a dread of the non-human agencies at play in the world, while also countering the nostalgic dimension of traditional representations of ruins. The contemporary success of ruins can be connected to the sense of planetary precarity induced by anthropogenic climate change, and to the widespread presence of eco-anxiety in the public conscience. Moreover, at the centre of ruins' aesthetic power is the interaction of human and non-human forces, and in the process of ruination, buildings and monuments find new meaning thanks to the intervention of external agents that human civilization has long attempted to tame or eliminate and that make a disturbing return as soon as anthropic activity ceases.

This Element discusses the presence of ruins in contemporary environmental imagination. Contemporary ruins, much more than those that served as constituents of Romantic and Gothic aesthetics, simultaneously express a fascination with and a dread of the non-human agencies at play in the world, while also countering the nostalgic dimension of traditional representations of ruins. The contemporary success of ruins can be connected to the sense of planetary precarity induced by anthropogenic climate change, and to the widespread presence of eco-anxiety in the public conscience. Moreover, at the centre of ruins' aesthetic power is the interaction of human and non-human forces, and in the process of ruination, buildings and monuments find new meaning thanks to the intervention of external agents that human civilization has long attempted to tame or eliminate and that make a disturbing return as soon as anthropic activity ceases.

The first critical study that theorises the Italian Gothic and examines its main forms and manifestations across arts, media, and disciplines. Offers a new account of the historical developments of Gothic narratives in the Italian context from the second half of the eighteenth century to the present dayExplores how, and with what implications, the Gothic has infiltrated a variety of media, including poetry, periodicals and magazines, cinema, comics, and musicExamines some of the major themes of the Italian Gothic, such as the Gothic body, the female Gothic, Gothic criminology, and folk horror and the ecogothicThis companion constitutes the first, systematic theorisation of the Italian Gothic. Through an interdisciplinary, trans-medial approach that encompasses prose fiction, poetry, journalism, film, music, and comics, it explores the varied and complex metamorphoses of the Gothic in Italy from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Although the last thirty years have seen a burgeoning in the academic study of the Gothic at college and university levels and in related publications, scholars have long struggled to even acknowledge the very existence of this mode in the Italian context. This companion does not only fill in a historical and critical gap in the scholarship, but it also contributes to revitalising the field of Gothic Studies, opening new channels of communication, and paving the way to the exploration of the fruitful interchanges between Italian and other European and American configurations of the Gothic.

This companion constitutes the first, systematic theorisation of the Italian Gothic. Through an interdisciplinary, trans-medial approach that encompasses prose fiction, poetry, journalism, film, music, and comics, it explores the varied and complex metamorphoses of the Gothic in Italy from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Although the last thirty years have seen a burgeoning in the academic study of the Gothic at college and university levels and in related publications, scholars have long struggled to even acknowledge the very existence of this mode in the Italian context. This companion does not only fill in a historical and critical gap in the scholarship, but it also contributes to revitalising the field of Gothic Studies, opening new channels of communication, and paving the way to the exploration of the fruitful interchanges between Italian and other European and American configurations of the Gothic.

A complex and at times controversial film-maker whose career spanned the second half of the twentieth century, Federico Fellini (1920–1993) remains central to the Italian cultural imagery and the object of ongoing debates and critical scrutiny at home and abroad. Images from his films – Gelsomina’s tears, Marcello’s sunglasses – have become global signifiers not only for Fellini and Italian cinema but for Italy itself, as steadily lodged in the world’s collective unconscious as the Colosseum’s arches and Venice’s gondolas.Marking the centenary of Fellini’s birth, Federico Fellini: Centenary Essays reassesses the film-maker’s legacy with diverse contributions from established and emerging Fellini scholars as well as renowned Canadian film-makers. From literary influences to pictorial references, from artistic collaborations to politics, and from exhibition history to revivals, the collection covers the pivotal aspects of Fellini’s poetics through contemporary methodological tools and features a wide array of scholarly approaches. With complexity and nuance, the book takes stock of the enormous cultural legacy of one of the most celebrated directors in cinema history and is essential reading for scholars and cinephiles alike.

The Ecology of Italian Science Fiction investigates the representation of ecological issues in Italian science fiction and film from the 1950s to the present. Taking into account a previously understudied corpus, the book reveals how Italian science fiction has consistently been able to conceptualize and dramatize the impact of human activities on the health of planetary ecosystems and addresses the radical environmental changes that have occurred in the country since the Second World War.Moving from current debates on the environmental humanities and on the cultural status of speculative fiction, the book provides an in-depth analysis of the evolution of the genre in Italy in relationship to the country's environmental history. The book highlights the ways in which Italian science fiction represents non-human agencies – animal, vegetal, mineral – and how the recent Solarpunk movement imagines new synergies with the environment. Drawing on notable works ranging from Lino Aldani to Gilda Musa, from Francesco Verso to Paolo Zardi, from Nicoletta Vallorani to Laura Pugno, The Ecology of Italian Science Fiction covers topics as diverse as the evolution of petroculture in Italy, environmental justice and migrations, encounters with animal and vegetal alterity, ecofeminist stances, and new dreams of sustainability.

This book traces the development of literary poetics after postmodernism and outlines the most important features of what is defined here as «post-postmodernism». This new literary form simultaneously recovers the characteristics of the traditional novel and abandons the ironic approach of postmodernism, while also retaining some postmodern narrative devices such as autofiction and metafiction. To render the global dimension of this phenomenon, this book focuses on the theme of the Second World War, an increasingly pivotal subject for historical novels in the twenty-first century worldwide. The study analyses the work of a variety of authors from several national literatures, focusing mainly on Roberto Bolaño, William T. Vollmann and Jonathan Littell, and drawing comparison with other authors, such as Rachel Seiffert, Sarah Waters, Laurent Binet, Ian McEwan and Giorgio Falco.

This volume explores Italian science fiction from the nineteenth century to the twenty-first, covering literary texts, films, music and visual works by figures as diverse as Maria Rosa Cutrufelli, Peter Kolosimo, Primo Levi, Antonio Margheriti, Gilda Musa and Roberto Vacca. It broadens the horizons of both Italian studies and the environmental humanities by addressing a long-neglected genre, and expands our understanding of relations between the ecological, the imaginary and the sociopolitical. The chapters draw on a variety of methodological frameworks, including animal studies, ecocriticism, ecofeminism, eco-media studies, energy humanities and posthumanism. The reader will gain insights into consequential topics such as anthropocentrism/speciesism, ecomodernist thought, environmental justice struggles at the planetary and regional level, non-human and new materialist ontologies, utopian/dystopian philosophies and prospects for transitioning beyond the crisis of petro-modernity through the construction of post-depletion futures.Open Access versions of the introduction and six of the book chapters are available on the Liverpool University Press website.