Kafka and Italy: A New Perspective on the Italian Literary Landscape

Website: https://sites.duke.edu/saskiaziolkowski/

I work on Italian literature and culture from a comparative perspective, especially in terms of the connections between Italy and German-language countries. My research topics include modernism, the novel, animal studies, world literature, Jewish studies, migration, literary history, and issues of identity. My book Kafka’s Italian Progeny (University of Toronto Press, awarded the American Association of Italian Studies 2020 Book Prize in Literary Studies) explores Franz Kafka’s sometimes surprising connections with key writers — from Massimo Bontempelli, Lalla Romano, and Italo Calvino to Antonio Tabucchi, Paola Capriolo, and Elena Ferrante — who have shaped Italy’s literary landscape. I am currently working on a monograph on  Jewishness in modern Italian literature and co-directing the Global Jewish Modernism Lab with Kata Gellen.