O partigiano, portami via! Men, sexuality, and the Italian Resistance

Abstract

This dissertation examines the representations of sexuality in male-authored narratives, both cinematic and literary, inspired by the Italian Resistance of the Second World War. My theoretical framework builds on the assertion that such narratives question predominant modes of representing the male partisan figure as a heterosexual man to include gay and queer sexualities. I foreground my work through a close reading of Carlo Coccioli’s Il Migliore e l’ultimo, a novel written during Coccioli’s imprisonment that narrates his love for a fellow partisan named Alberto. I proceed to novels and films produced during the 21st century. I engage each work with postmodern theories of writing and filmmaking, which I discuss alongside queer theorists whose studies affirm postmodernism as a site of openness and productivity for queer and eccentric subjects. I demonstrate how these works respond avant la lettre to calls for the revision of Resistance historiography made by official organizations of former partisans, such as Italy’s National Association of Partisans of Italy (A.N.P.I.). The works I examine are the aforementioned "Il Migliore e l’ultimo", Wu Ming’s "Asce di guerra", Bert D’Arragon’s "La libellula", and Ferzan Özpetek’s "Magnifica presenza".