Gianni Celati (1937- 2022) was one of the most eclectic Italian intellectuals of the last century. He was a writer, essayist, documentary filmmaker, and translator. Prisma Celati. Texts, Contexts, Images, and Memories (Prisma Celati. Testi Contesti Immagini Ricordi) is a collection of essays on Celati’s intellectual work, stemming from the two-day International Conference Celati In Context organised by Eloisa Morra (University of Toronto) in collaboration with Katia Pizzi (Italian Cultural Institute in London) at ICI London on 9th and 10th December 2020.
The book Prisma explores several topics relevant to Celati’s works, such as the text analysis – intended both as an understanding of the sources and a comparative study between ideas – and the investigation of the contexts where Celati has worked, such as collaborations with magazines and newspapers, and cultural Institutions. In addition, Prisma includes researchers and friends’ memories of Gianni Celati.
Eloisa Morra is Associate Professor of Italian at the University of Toronto, where she coordinates the Sciascia Archive Project. She is also is at work on a book on Italy’s greatest Modernist author, Carlo Emilio Gadda. In addition, she is a contributing writer at Il Sole 24 ore. She earned a BA and MA from the Scuola Normale Superiore and a PhD from Harvard. She is the author of Un allegro fischiettare nelle tenebre. Ritratto di Toti Scialoja (2014), Poetiche della visibilità (2022), the editor of several texts (T. Scialoja, Tre per un topo; 2014) and volumes (Building the Canon through the Classics Brill: 2019; Paesaggi di parole: 2019; Figure dell’artista: 2021; Retoriche dell’ecfrasi nella letteratura italiana del Novecento: 2021; Dino Buzzati: Critical Genealogies, Quaderni d’Italianistica: 2022).
Giacomo Raccis teaches contemporary Italian literature at the University of Bergamo (Italy). He explores the interaction between literature and visual arts, investigating the figure of the artist within contemporary Italian literature and short novels. He is the author of Una nuova sintassi per il mondo. L’opera letteraria di Emilio Tadini (2018) and La trama (2018). He is also a co-facilitator at a workshop about short novel. In addition, he is a contributing writer at the online magazine La Balena Bianca.
