This article investigates the significance of the French nouveau roman for the writers of the Italian neoavanguardia. Following a discussion of the key role played by the journal Il verri in the reception of theoretical and narrative texts from France in the late 1950s, the article considers the importance of the nouveau roman in the works of Italian writers such as Lucentini, Sanguineti, and others. While the generic importance of French models and forms has often been acknowledged, specific textual echoes and the ways in which nouveau roman devices and motifs are used in the Italian texts are explored here in new detail. As well as revealing particular intertextual echoes, the article considers the different ways in which intertextual materials are used, and the light that these cast on the literary projects of the neoavanguardia writers.
