What’s left of 1963: Mariano Bàino and the avant-garde with two “nei”

Abstract

After Gruppo 63 disbanded and Quindici ceased publication, the Italian neo-avant-garde experienced a period of crisis. While a few poets continued undeterred on their path of experimentation, many of its protagonists turned to a plainer, more traditional style. In the 1980s a new generation of authors attempted to form a third wave of avant-garde: they called themselves Gruppo 93. Although their organizational efforts were mostly unsuccessful, they led to the creation of a large amount of poetry, prose, and essays on aesthetics and poetics. This literary and theoretical output is almost completely neglected by contemporary criticism. The present article begins to remedy these circumstances, by reconstructing the forces at play during those years, describing some of the protagonists active in the field, reconstructing their ideas, and providing an account of their differences and commonalities. Additionally, it situates Mariano Bàino and one of his most interesting collections of verse, Fax giallo (Yellow Fax, 1993), within the context of this complex history.