il menabò, Torino, Einaudi, vol. 7 (1964) and vol. 10 (1967). Eco, Umberto, Opera aperta, Milano, Bompiani, 2000. Fasano, Michele, "In me non c'è che futuro...". Ritratto di Adriano Olivetti, Bologna, Sattva Films, 2011, p. 147. Lupo, Giuseppe / Lacorazza, Gianni (editors), L'anima meccanica. Le visite in fabbrica in "Civiltà delle Macchine" (1953-1957), Roma, Avagliano, 2008, p. 94-95.

This project investigates science and technology as topics dealt with in literary and cultural journals published in Italy after World War II.

Absolute faith in scientific progress and the accusation of dehumanizing people and destroying the environment are the opposite ends of a broad range of positions we can find in essays, novels, and poems published in the journals. The cultural journal Civiltà delle Macchine, founded 1953 by the poet, engineer, and marketing manager Leonardo Sinisgalli, represents the most successful attempt to connect reports on technological and scientific practices with literary production, works of art, and philosophical contributions. This journal tried to attract an international reader- and authorship, offering bilingual articles and abstracts in four languages.

The literary journal il menabò, edited by Elio Vittorini and Italo Calvino (1959-1967), who wanted to promote an “industrial literature” reflective of the effects produced by technology on every aspect of life, particularly on perception and language, was also interested in cultural exchange. Two of ten issues of il menabò consisted exclusively of German and French texts translated into Italian. This was the result of lengthy, ultimately unsuccessful trilateral negotiations aiming at establishing a Revue Internationale.

The strong role of translators in the transmission of knowledge, opinions, and creative works as it appears in these case studies is of particular interest to this project. Preliminary investigations point to several directions for in-depth analysis, such as revealing the concept of science implicit in the debates; the interrelation between international exchange and interest for scientific topics; the text translation policy of representative journals; the assimilation vs. refusal of science and technology in literary works; the involvement of selected journals in Cold War science; the conceptualization of man-made industrial reality - with implications for literature and art - anticipating current debates of the “Anthropocene”.

A first selection of journals include: Civiltà delle Macchine, il menabò, Il Politecnico, Il Verri, Officina, Società.