Franco Ciarlantini and the dissemination of Italian literature in the early 20th century

Abstract

The present article intends to reveal the role that Franco Ciarlantini, an important
Italian political figure, had in the literary exchanges between South America - mainly Brazil -
and Italy at the beginning of the 20th century. Ciarlantini dedicated his life to the dissemination
of Italian culture through, among others, his publishing house “Alpes” and the magazine
“Augustea: politica, economia, arte”, a rich source that made possible to survey the actions that
contributed to this dissemination and Ciarlantini's involvement in them. To analyze their
contributions and how successful they were, the main tool is the concept of literary value, as
exposed in the work The World Republic of Letters, by Pascale Casanova, in which literary
exchanges would take place in a world market, and factors as a language would be essential to
know the value attributed to the works that circulate within it. Ciarlantini would be, in this
market, a cultural intermediary, whose role is to bring Italian culture to the Italian people and
abroad, and the results of his actions with the fascist regime will be examined within this world
literary market.