Abstract

Thanks to his discussion of the “Bildungsroman” of the so-called “generation of the Littorio,” and indeed his whole manner of confronting the trajectory of maturation and the growth of political consciousness among his contemporaries, and then their ensuing antifascist swing, Enzo Forcella had coined the notion of a “dialectical pattern” made up of three phases: “Error—Disarray—Redemption.”

“The error,” as the journalist and writer explained it, “consisted in a more or less committed adherence to Fascism; the disarray was brought about by September 8, followed by the awareness of a political engagement that brought in its wake redemption through participation in…