{"product_id":"ascetic-images-achille-castaldo-9798855805000","title":"Ascetic Images: Anna Maria Ortese and Roberto Rossellini in the Underworld","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eExamines the narrative articulation of social invisibility in works by two of the most influential Italian cultural producers of the twentieth century.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe product of centuries of systemic violence and active marginalization, the lumpenproletariat haunts modernity and its afterlives, from the dark corners of the industrial metropolis to present-day slums. \u003ci\u003eAscetic Images\u003c\/i\u003e explores the Neapolitan version of this enigmatic social group as it enters the works of writer Anna Maria Ortese and filmmaker Roberto Rossellini in the post-World War II era. An exercise in critical narratology of film and literature, the book reconstructs the \"ascetic images\" inscribed in their texts-the traces of the traumatic experience of the urban underclass, obscured by dominant discourses. Looking especially at Ortese's \"The Silence of Reason\" (1953) and Rossellini's \u003ci\u003eJourney to Italy\u003c\/i\u003e (1954), Achille Castaldo proposes a method of close reading that reveals the narrative articulation of social invisibility and gestures toward the political crises of the present as marginalized groups are increasingly pushed beyond the limits of our fragile social awareness.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book is freely available in an open access edition thanks to the generous support of Emory University and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Achille Castaldo\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798855805000\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e State University of New York Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/01\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 302\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.26lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.81d","brand":"Achille Castaldo","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48175722234111,"sku":"9798855805000","price":130.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_4b99f500-da06-48e1-813a-f7b06fec643f.jpg?v=1771335501","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/ascetic-images-achille-castaldo-9798855805000","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}