Italy and Italians in travelogues about the USSR in the late 1940s and early 1950s

The article studies the image of Italy and Italians in the travelogues about the USSR written by Italian communist authors who visited Soviet Russia in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Russia and the USSR are traditionally perceived by Europeans, including Italians, imagologically, as the Other: the image of Russia serves as a "mirror" reflecting the relations between the two countries and the way Italians perceive not only Russian, but also their own culture, national character, political and economic system. The image of Russia and Italy in travelogues is based on a number of binary oppositions: backwardness-progress, barbarity-civilization, collectivism-individualism, etc. After World War II there appears a number of panegyrical pro-Soviet travelogues, where these traditional oppositions are radically reassessed. Unlike pre-war travel prose that highlighted the backwardness of Soviet Russia and, consequently, the advantages of Italian culture and socio-economic system, post-war Italian travelogues promote a highly positive image of Soviet society, while concentrating on flaws and disadvantages of the capitalist system. In the 1940s-1950s, when Italian perception of Soviet Russia was largely determined by the so-called Soviet myth, the Soviet Union was considered by left intellectuals as a model of social progress, while Italy, consequently, represented a negative example of society affected by a number of social plagues. The analysis of travel prose on the USSR written by Italian left intellectuals (an article by Libero Bigiaretti, two series of essays written by Renata Vigano and Italo Calvino respectively, an article and a publication of a speech given by Sibilla Aleramo, essays by Anna Maria Ortese) shows that prosperity, equality, collectivism, human dignity, and respect towards culture that are considered characteristic of the image of the USSR in travelogues of the late 1940s and early 1950s present a striking contrast to poverty, exploitation, disunity, and levity described as typical to Italy and to the capitalist society in general. The author advances a hypothesis that the main reasons for such a radical reassessment are: an unconscious tendency towards political utopism among Italian intellectuals trying to find an ideal socio-political system, a strict selection of foreign guests (mostly among the "friends of the USSR"), and a high level of so-called "techniques of hospitality" meant to demonstrate the socio-economic achievements of the Soviet Union. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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