Bassani, Feltrinelli and the ‘new’ question of language

Abstract

The essay aims to present an opportunity for methodological comparison, suggesting to consider Giorgio Bassani’s editorial activity at the Feltrinelli publishing house (1956-1963), placing it in relation to the so-called ‘new’ question of language, which began – as is well known – in 1964 following a famous lecture by Pier Paolo Pasolini. It is in fact possible to take some of the observations made by the protagonists of the debate (Cesare Segre and Italo Calvino in particular) and investigate this question from the 'point of view of book publishing’, in order to understand how much editorial planning and the construction of a catalogue may have influenced the stabilisation of a ‘common’ literary language, which in turn, thanks also to the public success of certain works, was subjected to extensive ‘social re-use’.