Brancati - Beautiful Antonio

Question 1

Importance of virility in Italy

Answer 1

High birth rates were a key aim of the regime, even imposing a ‘bachelor tax’ for unmarried men

Similar values displayed through the Church - sexual potency finds a kind of chastity in what the church considers a sacrament

Alfio Magnano himself values virility - mortified to hear of son’s impotency

Question 2

Key characters

Answer 2

Antonio and Alfio Magnano

Edoardo cousin

Ermenegildo uncle

Barbara Puglisi wife

Question 3

Setting of the story

Answer 3

Catania

Question 4

Brancati fascist joining

Answer 4

Joined the fascist part in 1924 at the age of 17

Became ‘Fascist to the roots of his hair’ and moved to Rome to begin a successful career in journalism

Question 5

Brancati disillusionment

Answer 5

In 1934, when a novel he had written was banned for erotic content - realised the repressive nature of fascism

First public rejection of fascism was in ‘The Lost Years’ in 1937

Question 6

Brancati after disillusionment

Answer 6

From 1937 was a schoolteacher in Sicily - was there to witness the devastation of the Allied invasion in 1943

Published the book in 1949, can be seen as an act of revenge on a society that treated him badly

Set out to paint a grotesque and comic picture of Italy under fascism