Fabrizio IMPELLIZZERI

English biobibliography | Fabrizio Impellizzeri is Full Professor of French language, literature and culture and teaches French literature in the Department of Humanities (DISUm) at the University of Catania, where he is also a member of the Doctoral School in Interpretation Sciences. He obtained a doctorate in French literature (psychoanalysis and literature) at the same university, where he also held a postdoctoral research position in French studies (sociolinguistics and cinema). In 2023, he founded the Visages Interuniversity Research Centre "Variations and hybridisms of autobiographical writing in French-language literature", with the participation of the Universities of Naples "Federico II", Genoa, Turin, Udine, Urbino "Carlo Bo" and "G. d'Annunzio" of Chieti-Pescara, and was elected Director for three years (2023-2026). He is a member of the Steering Committee of the "Seminario di Filologia Francese" for the period 2021-2024 and is responsible for the site. He is also auditor and member of the arbitrator board of the SUSLLF (University Society for the Study of French Language and Literature) the departmental delegate for Orientation for the Language Courses of the Struttura Didattica Speciale of Ragusa.

His areas of research, addressed mostly through sociological or psychoanalytical investigation, mainly concern the study of erotic sublimation, rewritings of the self, the banlieuepoétique, the postmigration, fin de siècle industrial literature, dandyism, intersemiotics and cine-literature. He focuses on authors between the 19th and the 21st century: among the most significant are Jean Genet, Pierre Klossowski, Jean de Tinan, Maurice Sachs, Pierre Jean Jouve, Colette, Willy, Carlos Batista, Samuel Benchetrit, Laura Ulonati, Philippe Grimbert and André Téchiné. He is the author of three books: L'écriture fantasmatique. La transcription du désir chez Jean Genet et Pierre Klossowski (2007), De l'écriture tactile à l'image. La figuration du désir chez Jean Genet et Pierre Klossowski (2008) and Sémiotique de l'outrage. Infractions politiques du langage, sociolectes et cinélangues chez Jean Genet et Pier Paolo Pasolini (2010). He edited the collective works Parcours variationnels du français contemporain (Repères-Dorif n°8, 2015), Les Variations linguistiques dans la littérature et le cinéma français contemporains (Classiques-Garnier, 2015), the section 'I mercati del tradurre: formazione linguistica e orientamenti professionali' within Les liaisons plurilingues. Lingue, culture e professioni (Mucchi Editore, 2014) and, with Daniela Tononi, the collective works Les masques de l'écriture (VerbaManent, UnipaPress, 2023). He is Deputy Scientific Director of the language, literature and communication journal Illuminazioni and, since 2014, has been co-director of the "Mercures - Studi Mediterranei di Francesistica" collection for the Modena-based publisher Mucchi. He is on the editorial boards of the journals: RIEF. Revue italienne d’études françaises, TICONTRE. Teoria Testo e Traduzione, of the Department of Letters and Philosophy at the University of Trento; Quêtes littéraires of the Institute of Romance Philology at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (Poland) and LEA - Lingue e Letterature d'Oriente e d'Occidente of the FORLILPSI department at the University of Florence. Since 2022, he has been a member of the ÉcriSoi - Centre de Recherche sur les écritures de soi research group, developed jointly by the CELLF (Centre d'étude de la langue et des littératures françaises) CNRS - Sorbonne University (UMR 8599) and the CEREdI (Centre d'études et de recherche éditer/interpréter) at the University of Rouen and Lorraine, and the research centre Argo - Centro di Ricerca Interuniversitario di Argomentazione, Pragmatica e Stilistica of the University of Naples "L'Orientale" in collaboration with the universities of Bari "Aldo Moro", Palermo, Foggia and Rome "Tor Vergata".

Fabrizio IMPELLIZZERI
FRAN-01/A – French Literature

Research Topics and Projects

• Main areas of research, specifically:

1. the analysis of the phenomenon of erotic sublimation and transgression in 20th-century French novels
2. engagement and its political role as a form of rebellion through language
3. reinterpretations of myth
4. autobiography, reinterpretations of the self, autofiction, autofamilifiction and autosociobiography (class defectors and children of immigrants)
5. the urban novel (banlieue)
6. cinematic self-adaptation
7. sociolinguistics applied to the study of variations in contemporary French cinema and literature

SCIENTIFIC INVOLVEMENT IN RESEARCH PROJECTS AND CENTRES

2024

Member of the inter-university research project From the Pact to Autobiographical Impacts: 1975–2025 – Du pacte aux impacts autobiographiques 1975–2025, funded by the 2nd call for proposals of the 2024 Scientific Label of the Italo-French University (L24B-142) in collaboration with the University of Insubria and the “Gabriele d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara (venue for the conference and scientific and administrative activities).

2023

Head of the Research Unit at the University of Catania (DISUm) and Deputy Principal Investigator for the PRIN 2022JELMNK 1920-2020: Phantasmagories of war in contemporary literary experiences (Principal Investigator Daniela Tononi, University of Palermo). Local title of the Catania unit’s two-year project: Alterations of war trauma in contemporary Western and Eastern contexts. 

Founder and Director of the Inter-university Research Centre VISAGES – Variations and hybridisms of autobiographical writing in French-language literatures / Variations et hybridismes des écritures autobiographiques dans les littératures d’expression française at the University of Catania (administrative headquarters) in collaboration with the universities of Naples “Federico II”, Genoa, Turin, Udine, Urbino “Carlo Bo” and Chieti-Pescara “G. d’Annunzio”.

2022

Associate member of ÉcriSoi – Centre for Research on Self-Writing, jointly run by the CELLF (Centre for the Study of French Language and Literature) of the CNRS at Sorbonne University (UMR 8599) and the CEREdI (Centre for Studies and Research on Editing and Interpretation) at the University of Rouen [URL: https://ecrisoi.univ-rouen.fr] since 28 June 2022.

2020

PIACERI Two-year research programme of the Department of Humanities (DISUm) at the University of Catania. Principal investigator: Prof. Concettina Rizzo. Project title and acronym: MigrAIRe - Migration and belonging: analysis of strategies and methods for constructing new concepts of identity and restructuring linguistic repertoires. Individual project: New aesthetics of identity representation in second-generation French writers.

Modernité des hétérotopies : genre, discours, création, research project for an inter-university conference in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (France) & Split (Croatia), Besançon (Faculty of Arts, Centre for Interdisciplinary and Transcultural Research), 2020. [https://www.fabula.org/actualites/modernite-des-heterotopies-genre-discours-creation_92726.php]

2019

Argo - Inter-university Research Centre for Argumentation, Pragmatics and Stylistics at the University of Naples “L’Orientale” - Participating universities: Naples “L’Orientale”, Bari “Aldo Moro”, Palermo, Foggia, Rome “Tor Vergata”.  [http://www.unior.it/ateneo/19027/1/centro-argo.html]

2017–2019

Prometeo – Funding Line 3 – Three-Year Research Programme of the Department of Humanities (DISUm) at the University of Catania. Principal investigator: Prof. Giuseppe Traina. Project title: LISPO - The languages of power. Personal project: Scribo ergo sum. Identity claims of the ‘slaves’ in fin-de-siècle literary workshops.

Prometeo 2019 - Individual Funding Line 1 (bis) - Three-Year Research Programme of the Department of Humanities (DISUm) at the University of Catania. Individual project: A reinterpretation of the myth of the fin-de-siècle French dandy between imperfections and the mask of the double-Je.

Prometeo 2018 – Individual Funding Line 1 – Three-Year Research Programme of the Department of Humanities (DISUm) at the University of Catania. Individual project: Psychosocial analyses in fin-de-siècle short stories.

FFABR 2017 - Funds for the Financing of Basic Research Activities for Researchers (December 2017) [Article 1, paragraphs 295 et seq. of Law No. 232 of 11 December 2016.] 

2014–2016

FIR2014 – project code: C76ADB – DISUm – School of Foreign Languages and Literatures – University of Catania. Principal investigator: Prof. Nunzio Zago. Project title: Intellectual Ulyssism from the 19th century to the present day – Intellectual Ulyssism between the 19th and the 21st centuries. Personal project: Ulyssism in fin-de-siècle writing and contemporary French banlieue literature, between youthful illusions and transgressions (from 04/02/2015 to 31/10/2017 – 32 months)

2012–2013

Research project for the allocation of the 2012 Researchers’ Fund at the School of Foreign Languages and Literatures (SDS) of the University of Catania. Project title: Suburban literature between concrete segregation and multi-ethnic identities in the making (Rector’s decree of 4 October 2012, ref. no. 3593 – from 1 November 2012 to 31 October 2013 – 12 months)

2009–2013

PRIN 2009WFSAAK_003: Within and beyond the borders: use and norm in Western European languages. National coordinator: Prof. Giovanni Iamartino (University of Milan) and Head of the Catania Research Unit: Prof. Nadia Minerva (University of Catania). Local title: The Norm and the norms: linguistic description, prescriptivism and foreign language teaching - Personal project: Analysis of linguistic variations and social factors in French cinema (from 17/10/2011 to 17/10/2013 - 24 months) 

ACADEMIC POSITIONS 

• Since 2025, member of the Editorial Board of the academic journal EXPRESSIO. Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Communication, published by Mimesis (Milan) and edited by Giulio M. Facchetti.
• Since 2025, member of the Scientific Committee of the series Προνοέω. Visions and Pathways through Literature, Philology and Linguistics, published by Agorà & Co. Lugano, edited by C. Arizzi, V. Di Clemente, S. Fontana and D. Motta. https://agoraedizioni.it/agora-edizioni-collane/
• Since 2025, member of the Scientific Committee of the journal Diritti, etica e libertà nella Storia Contemporanea del mondo globale, edited by Giambattisca Sciré. https://www.aracneeditrice.eu/it/collana/diritti-etica-e-liberta-nella-storia-contemporanea-del-mondo-globale-.html
• Since 2024, member of the Editorial Board of the A-level journal of literature, language and culture RIEF. Revue italienne d’études françaises, edited by Franco Fiorentino. https://journals.openedition.org/rief/
• For the three-year period 2023–2026, Director of the VISAGES Inter-University Research Centre - Variations and hybridisms in autobiographical writing in French-language literatures / Variations et hybridismes des écritures autobiographiques dans les littératures d’expression française at the University of Catania (administrative headquarters) in collaboration with the universities of Naples “Federico II”, Genoa, Turin, Udine, Urbino Carlo Bo and Chieti-Pescara “G. d’Annunzio”.
• Since 2023, he has been Deputy Scientific Editor of the journal of language, literature and communication *Illuminazioni* [ISSN: 2037-609X], where he has also served, since 2020, as a member of the scientific committee and coordinator of the French studies section (sector 10/H1: French language, culture and literature). A quarterly electronic journal covering areas 10 and 11, with double-blind peer review. [http://www.rivistailluminazioni.it/comitato-scientifico/]
• For the two-year period 2023–2024, lecturer on the Eunice Inter-University Training Project ‘Cultures and Regions of Europe – Europe des Régions: France, Italy, Belgium’, Cultural, Literary-Linguistic and Translation Studies, with the personal teaching project ‘Memories of Exile and Elsewhere in the Mediterranean’. In search of a lost identity in the literary Francophonie of the South. 
• Since 2021, external referee for the journal LEA - Lingue e Letterature d'Oriente e d'Occidente of the FORLILPSI Department at the University of Florence
• Since 2019, member of the Editorial Board of the journal Quêtes littéraires of the Institute of Romance Philology at the Catholic University of Lublin “John Paul II” (Poland), edited by Edyta Kociubińska
• Since 2019, member and collaborator of the Inter-University Research Centre for Argumentation, Pragmatics and Stylistics at the University of Naples “L’Orientale” (ARGO) (Participating universities: Naples “L’Orientale”, Bari “Aldo Moro”, Palermo, Foggia, Rome “Tor Vergata”). [http://www.unior.it/ateneo/19027/1/centro-argo.html]
• Since 2016, member of the editorial board of the A-level scientific journal TICONTRE. Theory, Text and Translation of the Department of Literature and Philosophy at the University of Trento (Editor-in-Chief: Pietro Taravacci – Editorial Board: A. Binelli, M. Fadini, F. Ferrari, P. Taravacci, C. Tirinanzi dei Medici) - ISSN 2284-4473. A biannual electronic journal with double-blind peer review.
• Since 2014, Co-editor of the MERCURES series – Mediterranean Studies in French Literature at Mucchi Editore, Modena.

INSTITUTIONAL APPOINTMENTS

• Since 2024, he has been the Student Guidance Officer for the Ragusa Campus of the University of Catania.
• For the three-year period 2023–2026, he is the departmental representative for Student Guidance at the Ragusa School of Humanities (SDS) within the Department of Humanities (DISUm) for the Ministry’s ‘Oui, ovunque da qui’ project team: https://www.unict.it/it/didattica/team-progetto-oui
• Since 2019, he has been a member of the Literature Committee for the evaluation of syllabuses at the School of Foreign Languages and Literatures (SDS) in Ragusa.
• Since 2013, he has been the counselling and guidance liaison for the Bachelor’s degree programme in Linguistic and Intercultural Mediation (L12) and for the Master’s degree programmes in European and Non-European Languages and Cultures (LM37 – until 2020) and in Linguistic Sciences for Intercultural Communication and Education (LM39) at the School of Foreign Languages and Literatures in Ragusa.
• From 2011 to 2013, he was responsible for the induction programme for new students.
• From 2011 to 2013, he was responsible for the language laboratory, ongoing language training for CEL students and teachers in lower and upper secondary schools, as well as the website of the Special Teaching Unit for Foreign Languages and Literatures in Ragusa.
• Since 19 September 2025, he has been appointed by the Rector, Prof. Enrico Foti, to serve as President of the Special Teaching Unit in Ragusa (Decree No. 3676).
• For the four-year period 2026–2030, he was appointed a member of the Management Committee of the University Language Centre (CLA) (Decree No. 44701 of 14 January 2026) and a member of the Technical-Linguistic Committee for the French language.

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

• For the three-year period 2024–2027, re-elected for a second term as a member of the Executive Committee of the Seminar of French Philology (SFF) and webmaster of the website [https://filologiafrancese.it/chi-siamo/]
• For the three-year period 2021–2024, member of the Executive Committee of the Seminar of French Philology (SFF) and webmaster of the website [https://filologiafrancese.it/chi-siamo/].
• For the three-year period 2021–2024, Chair of the Technical and Scientific Committee of the ‘Don Domenico Calarco’ Higher School for Language Mediators in Reggio Calabria.
• Since 2024, he has been a member of the Board of Arbitrators and an auditor for the SUSLLF (University Society for the Study of French Language and Literature).

AFFILIATIONS

• Sff (Seminar on French Philology) – Member of the Executive Committee for the 2021–2024 term.
• SUSLLF (University Society for French Language and Literature Studies)
• Do.Ri.F (Documentation and Research Centre for the Teaching of French in Italian Universities)
• AITI (Italian Association of Translators and Interpreters) – Member and liaison interpreter (FR/IT and IT/FR) from 2003 to 2013.

ADMINISTRATIVE AND SERVICE ROLES

• Since 14 January 2026, he has been a member of the Management Committee of the University Language Centre (CLA) (Decree No. 44701 of 14 January 2026) and a member of the Technical and Linguistic Committee for the French language.
• Since 19 September 2025, he has been appointed by Rector Enrico Foti to serve as Chair of the Special Teaching Unit in Ragusa (Decree No. 3676).
• Since 2014, he has been the contact person for the Chair of French Language, Literature and Culture for the degree programmes in Linguistic and Intercultural Mediation (L12) and in Linguistic Sciences for Intercultural Studies and Training (LM39) at the Special Teaching Unit in Ragusa, part of the Department of Humanities at the University of Catania.