Francesca Melandri and Europe’s “Cold Feet”

The article first discusses Francesca Melandri’s earlier work, before shifting focus to her novel Piedi freddi (Cold Feet, 2024). The latter is a sort of long letter to her father, who fought in the “Russian campaign” in 1941/43, which was more precisely a campaign in Ukraine promoted by fascist colonialism. The war of that period is depicted through dialogue with her father and his writings, in order to compare it with today’s conflict, which portrays Ukraine as a victim of Russian imperialism. It is precisely this latter aspect that allows the author to denounce the lack of understanding, especially among a certain part of the Italian left, of Russian imperialism, its aggression against Ukraine and the crimes against humanity it is committing. By bringing two distinct historical periods into dialogue, Melandri’s book highlights the contradictions of the West and the threat to the democratic project that has brought happiness to Europe since the Second World War. It is a mature, complex, and stylistically very successful book that places Melandri among the leading contemporary writers and demonstrates her intellectual stature

Crimes against humanity · Democracy · Happiness · Humanity · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society · Italian Literature and Culture · Linguistic Studies and Language Acquisition