Massimo Bontempelli and the ‘literary education’ of students in the early 20th century: the case of the Introduction to the Prose di fede e di vita del primo tempo dell’umanesimo (1913)

Abstract

Massimo Bontempelli (1878-1960), one of the most prolific intellectuals of the early 20th century, sets out his views on literary tradition, the literary canon and the role of readers in the reception of literary works in the Introduction to the collection Prose di fede e di vita del primo tempo dell'umanesimo(1913). The target audience of the introductory essay is high school students, whom it addresses in a clear and well-structured discourse. The topics are socio-literary in nature and for the most part anti-canonical and indirectly relevant to new trends in school texts and literary current affairs, increasingly influenced by journalism. In an attempt to attract young minds to the reading of 15th-century texts that are not (yet) canonised and whose main function is communicative (e.g. letters, chronicles), paying homage to the 15th century – one of his favourite periods – Bontempelli anticipates some of the theses of the Novecentismo theorised in the magazine ’900 in the 1920s.