Prison Notebooks, Volume 1Summary: This second volume of Antonio Gramsci's Letters from Prison covers the years 1931 to 1937. Beginning with a letter to Tania Schucht, his sister-in-law, that expresses troubled concern about his wife's family, and ending with a series of notes to his two sons, Delio and Giuliano, these letters chronicle Gramsci's rapidly declining health, his numerous efforts, assisted by Tania and Piero Sraffa, his friend and mentor, to obtain relief from the physical and administrative oppression of imprisonment at Turi, and his transfers from Turi to Civitavecchia, to Formia, and finally to Rome, where he died on April 27, 1937." "What gives the letters in Volume Two their distinctive character is the lucidity with which Gramsci confronts a variety of difficult problems of modern civilization. His exchange of letters with Tania on anti-Semitism are remarkable for their range of historical, political, and psychological considerations. His letters to his ailing wife, Giulia, on Freudianism and psychoanalysis, although brief and fragmentary, reveal fruitful perspectives on the relationship between the individual and society in periods of social and political turmoil. Gramsci's exchange of ideas with Piero Sraffa, mediated by Tania, on the philosophy of Benedetto Croce are indispensable supplements to his ideas on philosophical idealism expressed in the Prison Notebooks." "Also of great interest are the letters in which Gramsci confronts his feelings of estrangement from his wife and children. These emotions prompted him to probe his own psyche with exceptional candor. Gramsci's letters to Giulia are an especially poignant aspect of his attempt to transcend the real and metaphorical walls that prevented full communication with his loved ones. Another series of letters discusses his philosophy of education, as applied to his nieces and nephews in Sardinia, as well as his two sons in Moscow." "Volume Two of Letters from Prison contains explanatory notes, a chronology of Gramsci's life, a bibliography, and an analytical index for the entire two-volume collection. |
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Achille Loria Action Action Française activity Antonio Avanti Benedetto Croce bourgeoisie Carlo Catholic Civiltà Cattolica Communist concept Corriere crisis critical Croce culture d'Italia December economic edition of Avanti English essay Fascist Fiera Letteraria France Francesco French German Giovanni Giuseppe Giuseppe Prezzolini Gramsci Grido del Popolo important industrial intellectuals interesting International issue Italian Italy Jacobins January June L'Ordine Nuovo L'Unità La Civiltà Cattolica La Stampa labor later letter to Tatiana Luigi Machiavelli manuscript March Marx masses Maurras ment Michels Milan military minister modern movement Mussolini Naples nationalist newspapers Notebook 19 November Nuova Antologia organization Papini Paris parliament Party PCd'I peasants period philosophy Piero politica political Popolo popular Prezzolini Prison Notebooks problem prof published Quintino Sella Rassegna reference revolution Risorgimento Rivista Rome Sardinia senator social Socialist sociology Southern Question Stampa Storia Tatiana Schucht tion topics translation Turin workers writings wrote