{"product_id":"indeterminacy-and-the-reader-s-engagement-in-the-italian-novel-9781041126713","title":"Indeterminacy and the Reader’s Engagement in the Italian Novel: Ungraspable","description":"What makes literature ‘literary’? Some theories argue it is a certain degree of ungraspability – openness, vagueness, or ambiguity that invites readers’ active participation in constructing meaning. This book examines five canonical twentieth-century Italian novels (by Tozzi, Landolfi, Vittorini, Gadda, and Ortese) that have consistently been described by critics as particularly “indeterminate” or “ungraspable.” Through these case studies, spanning fifty years of Italian literature, the book investigates how textual indeterminacy functions as a literary strategy rather than a shortcoming. Each novel employs different techniques to create indeterminacy: fragmented punctuation and syntax in Tozzi, fantastic elements and hesitation in Landolfi, dialogic openness in Vittorini, linguistic accumulation in Gadda, and genre hybridism in Ortese. These works challenged readers’ expectations decades before postmodernists like Calvino made such techniques commonplace. By analyzing how these novels manipulate indeterminacy and engage readers in meaning-making, this book contributes to our understanding of literary communication while offering fresh interpretations of key works in the Italian canon.\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication date:\u003c\/strong\u003e 19 August 2026\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePage count:\u003c\/strong\u003e 192\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e Height 229 mm; Width 152 mm\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e Taylor \u0026amp; Francis Ltd\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e Hardback\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9781041126713\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Laura Lucia Rossi","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":50169821135098,"sku":"9781041126713","price":162.36,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0522\/4297\/2845\/files\/9781041126713.jpg?v=1787611491","url":"https:\/\/shulphink.com\/products\/indeterminacy-and-the-reader-s-engagement-in-the-italian-novel-9781041126713","provider":"Shulph Ink","version":"1.0","type":"link"}