Introduction

Introduction to the 3rd number of the journal, entitled "Italy through Postcolonial Eyes". The introduction discusses the articles gathered in this issue that derive from a project on the representation of Italy and its culture in the literature, cinema and theatre of the former British colonies and settler colonies. The two main points at issue both in the essays and in this introduction are the ways in which Italy has been interpreted through the eyes of contemporary postcolonial literature in English, and Italy’s present postcolonial moment. The former has a well-established tradition in Italy, mainly thanks to the pioneering work done by university research groups that have contributed to understand and spread both Anglophone postcolonial literature and its sophisticated, revolutionary theoretical thought from the late 80s to our days. Italy’s present postcolonial moment has been brought into focus more recently, thanks to the convergence the work done by scholars of Italian literature; new trans-disciplinary research that discovers a latent ‘Italian postcolonial paradigm’ in the works of philosophers, writers and literary critics; and a new postcolonial literature produced in Italy that takes into account other postcolonial experiences (in particular in English speaking countries). From this theoretical framework the introduction moves on to the analysis of each of the chapter of this journal's issue.