Introduces and analyses a stage performance of texts by Italian Modernist writer Carlo Emilio Gadda When do we start going to war and why? And what did it mean to go to war from World War I to World War II and beyond, in Italy, before and after Mussolini, before and after, that is, that warring spirit of the age which keeps nations in fighting mode? Both time specific and universal, these questions are explored in this book through a unique combination of scholarly and theatrical performance based on the war diaries and a belated anti-Mussolini pamphlet by Italy's greatest Modernist writer Carlo Emilio Gadda (1893-1973). These works were adapted for the stage by actor, playwright and director Fabrizio Gifuni in 2010, and are now presented for the first time in English, supplemented with facing Italian text, a dvd of the performance with English subtitles, and an engaging, thought-provoking scholarly guide to Italy's own Joyce purposely produced for the Anglophone audience by the Edinburgh Gadda Projects Team. Key Features Introduces Italy's greatest Modernist writer to the Anglophone audience in five sections: Poetics, Circulation, Translation, Staging and Resources Provides a flexible teaching and learning aid for work across subject areas Presents the first significant new English Gadda translation since the 1960s Includes the original Italian texts (with facing English translation) and the dvd of the Italian performance (with English subtitles) Fabrizio Gifuni is one of Italy's leading actors. His career successfully combines cinema and theatre. In 2011 he was awarded the prestigious Federico Fellini Prize for his outstanding career in the arts. Federica G. Pedriali is Professor of Literary Metatheory and Modern Italian Studies and Head of Italian Studies at the University of Edinburgh. She is the Founder and Director of the Edinburgh Gadda Projects, General Editor of the Edinburgh Journal of Gadda Studies and Director of the Italo-Scottish Research Centre.