Bordeaux: Pier Paolo Pasolini, literary critic

On 29 January 2026, at 7 p.m., at the Olympique Bookshop in Bordeaux, there will be a presentation of the book by Pier Paolo Pasolini, Écrits sur la littérature italienne (1941-1974). Edition directed by Manuele Gragnolati and Andrea Agliozzo. Translated from Italian by Vincent d’Orlando. Collection “Cahiers de l’Hôtel de Galliffet”. Speaker: Andrea Agliozzo (Sorbonne University). Moderated by Francis Lippa.

Filmmaker, poet, novelist and intellectual ‘corsair’, Pier Paolo Pasolini was also one of the leading figures in Italian literary debate from 1940 until his death. His work as a literary critic had a significant influence on his career as a writer: ‘When I think […] about the beginning of my literary career,’ he wrote in 1962, ‘I see myself as someone who “comes from criticism”.’

This volume offers a selection of Pasolini’s writings on Italian literature that do not appear in his official collections. It is divided into two parts. The first brings together reviews of some twenty contemporary authors, offering unprecedented access to major voices of 20th-century Italy such as Bassani, Gadda, Morante, Montale and Ungaretti. The second brings together Pasolini’s writings on his own works, as well as texts that address the central questions of his poetics.