Firenze 1937-1947: Letteratura e l’indifferenza engagée

This article explores the literary journal Letteratura (Florence, 1937–1947), both to assess its role and position within the Italian cultural landscape in the years of transition from the Fascist dictatorship to the Republic, and to provide a broader reflection on the profile and activity of literary journals under repressive regimes. To this end, the article discusses debates concerning the Italian novel and the emerging critical methodologies of the day, to ask how the idea of literary writing changed during the shift between radical totalitarianism and democracy. In particular, by looking at the journal’s internal composition and range of contributions, it analyses the role played by Letteratura as a cultural agent in its own right, in developing an intellectual model of ‘engaged indifference’ through literary writing and criticism. It shows how Italian intellectuals, critics, and writers, revolving around the Florentine journal, adopted this model as a productive strategy for surviving the cultural limitations imposed by the regime.