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Toronto Italian Studies
The Ecology of Italian Science Fiction

The Ecology of Italian Science Fiction

by Marco Malvestio

Published by: University of Toronto Press

Series: Toronto Italian Studies

Imprint: University of Toronto Press

256 Pages, 159.00 × 235.00 × 19.00 mm

Hardcover
9781487554705
Published: July 2025

£44.00

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Description
Contents
Authors

The Ecology of Italian Science Fiction investigates the representation of ecological issues in Italian science fiction and film from the 1950s to the present. Taking into account a previously understudied corpus, the book reveals how Italian science fiction has consistently been able to conceptualize and dramatize the impact of human activities on the health of planetary ecosystems and addresses the radical environmental changes that have occurred in the country since the Second World War.

Moving from current debates on the environmental humanities and on the cultural status of speculative fiction, the book provides an in-depth analysis of the evolution of the genre in Italy in relationship to the country's environmental history. The book highlights the ways in which Italian science fiction represents non-human agencies – animal, vegetal, mineral – and how the recent Solarpunk movement imagines new synergies with the environment. Drawing on notable works ranging from Lino Aldani to Gilda Musa, from Francesco Verso to Paolo Zardi, from Nicoletta Vallorani to Laura Pugno, The Ecology of Italian Science Fiction covers topics as diverse as the evolution of petroculture in Italy, environmental justice and migrations, encounters with animal and vegetal alterity, ecofeminist stances, and new dreams of sustainability.

Acknowledgments
Note on Texts Translations

Introduction: The Ecology of Italian Science Fiction
Science Fiction and the Limits of Taxonomy
The Crisis of Imagination
Landing in Lucca: Italian Science Fiction in Context
Studying Italian Science Fiction: The Tools of the Trade
The Anthropocene and Italian Science Fiction: Overview of the Book

Part I: Post-Boom Wastelands

1. The Price of Oil: Petroculture and Environmental Degradation
Overpopulation, Urban Sprawl, Environmental Degradation: Petro-Modernity in the Stories of Lino Aldani
The Trouble with Cars: Automobiles in Pierfrancesco Prosperi and Lino Aldani

2. Lives in the Wasteocene: Environmental Justice and the Necropolitics of Disposability
Wasted People: Environmental Migration in Paolo Zardi and Bruno Arpaia
The Necropolitics of Disposability: Livido and Pulphagus®

Part II: Encountering Non-Human Otherness

3. Domestic Jungles and Murderous Megaflora: Plants in Italian Science Fiction
The Fear of Vegetal Assimilation: Mario Bava’s Caltiki and Giorgio Scerbanenco’s L’anaconda
The Benevolent Monstrosity of Plants: Gilda Musa’s Giungla domestica

4. Texts of Meat: Representing Animal Exploitation
Crossing to the Other Shore: Animal Exploitation in Lino Aldani
Mermaids Like Us: Animal Farming and Gendered Violence in Laura Pugno

Part III: Exit Strategies

5. Alternative Ethics: Ecofeminism in Italian Science Fiction
Women Experimenting: The Feminist Ecologies of Gilda Musa
Humus Sapiens: Gendered Violence and Composting Feminism in Nicoletta Vallorani

6. New Energies, New Minds: Italian Solarpunk and the Imagination of Sustainability
Solar, Not Sunny: Solarpunk in Italy
The Light Green: The Imagery of Italian Solarpunk

Conclusion: A Matter of Imagination

Notes
Works Cited
Index

Marco Malvestio is an assistant professor in the Department of Linguistic and Literary Studies at the University of Padova.