Introduction: Cross-Cultural Articulations of Italian Ecocriticism

The title of this special issue, Cross-Cultural Articulations of Italian Ecocriticism, indicates the theoretical framework from which we move - material ecocriticism - and the direction in which we want to take it - cross-cultural exchanges - starting from an Italian viewpoint. According to this framework, matter is densely storied, yet stories are not the same for all human or nonhuman inhabitants of an ecosystem. The narrative patterns they articulate depend on the embodiment of the entities participating in the encounter, the senses and technological apparatuses engaged in interpreting them, and the cultural, social, and political positionalities of the participants. Conversely, material stories affect those who explore them in complex ways contingent upon the encounter, the body and cultural background of the explorers, and their position within power relations. This introduction and the special issue articles expand scholarship developed at the crossroads of Italian studies and ecocriticism in the last thirty years.