Andrea SCHEMBARI
Keywords
The following are the authors and research areas currently under investigation:
Cesare Pavese
Leonardo Sciascia
Federico De Roberto
Thing theory
War, emigration, and industrialisation in Southern Italian literature of the second half of the twentieth century
Andrea Schembari (Siracusa, 1978), after completing his scientific high school diploma, graduated in Modern Literature and Modern Philology at the University of Catania, where he also earned, in 2011, a PhD in Modern Philology. In October of the same year, he was appointed as a lecturer (lektor) of Italian language at the Katedra Italianistyki of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Szczecin (Poland), where, in 2012, he won a competitive selection for the position of adiunkt (lecturer and researcher) on a fixed-term contract. After obtaining a permanent position, in 2019 he moved to the Instytut Literatury i Nowych Mediów of the University of Szczecin, where he taught — in both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes — History of Italy, Comparative Literature, Travel Literature, and Contemporary Italian Literature. Since October 2023, he has been a Researcher at the Department of Humanities, teaching Comparative Literature and Contemporary Italian Literature to students enrolled in the degree programme in "Linguistic and Intercultural Mediation", offered at the Special Teaching Unit of Ragusa. His research interests have focused on the narrative and essayistic writing of Leonardo Sciascia, to whom he has dedicated — as co-editor, with Giuseppe Traina and Flora Monello — the collective volume Leonardo Sciascia e la giovane critica (Salvatore Sciascia Editore, 2009), and the monograph Il lume del sentimento. Leonardo Sciascia e il Settecento (Paolo Loffredo Editore, 2022), as well as several articles and contributions published in journals and edited volumes. He is also a member of the scientific committee of «Todomodo – Rivista internazionale di studi sciasciani». He has further worked on the major Sicilian authors of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, on memoirs and academic culture in eighteenth-century Sicily, and — in an interdisciplinary perspective — on the relationships between texts for music, philosophy, and contemporary literature, having recently co-edited with Stefano Marino the volume Pearl Jam and Philosophy (Bloomsbury Academic, 2022).
The following are the main research activities carried out since joining the University of Catania (October 2023):
- Principal Investigator of the PiaCeRi project (University Research Incentive Plan) – Intervention Line 3 (Starting Grant), two-year duration (April 2025 – April 2027), funded by the University of Catania, entitled PaRCo. Pavese e la Retorica delle Cose; external advisor: Prof. Laura Nay (University of Turin). The project description is available at https://www.disum.unict.it/it/content/parco.
- Member of the Catania research unit of the PRIN 2022 project entitled PAVES-e. Per un'edizione-archivio digitale dell'opera di Pavese, pursuant to Ministerial Decree no. 104 of 02.02.2022 of the Ministry of University and Research – CUP E53D23013670006, in collaboration between the University of Catania, the University of Turin, and the C.N.R. of Catania; Principal Investigator: Prof. Antonio Sichera (UniCt).
- Member of the Catania research unit, under the supervision of Prof. Giuseppe Palazzolo, of the PRIN 2022 PNRR project entitled Memoria e Mezzogiorno (MeMo). Una mappa letteraria dal 1945 a oggi, pursuant to Ministerial Decree no. 1409 of 14.09.2022 of the Ministry of University and Research – CUP E53D23018510001, in collaboration between the University of Naples, the University of Calabria, and the University of Catania; Principal Investigator: Prof. Bernardo De Luca (UniNa).
- Member of the research group of the University PiaCeRi project (University Research Incentive Plan) – Line 2, funded by DISUM of the University of Catania through university funds, entitled Europa Germanica ed Europa Mediterranea: incontri e scontri culturali dal Medioevo alla modernità (EGEM); Principal Investigator: Prof. Stefano Rapisarda (October 2024 – ongoing). The project description is available at https://www.disum.unict.it/it/content/egem.
- Member of the Scientific Council of the Centre for Digital Humanities (CINUM), University of Catania, DISUM (December 2024 – present).
- Member of the scientific committee of «TODOMODO. Rivista internazionale di studi sciasciani», published by Olschki (Florence) and accredited on the ANVUR list of Class A journals for Competition Sectors 10/F1 and 10/F2 of Area 10.
- Co-director of the book series "I semi", Euno Edizioni, Leonforte (EN), with S. Russo, G. Traina, and N. Zago.
- Member of the scientific committee of the book series "Le bandiere & le drizze", Nerosubianco Edizioni, Cuneo.
- Member of the scientific committee of the "Fondazione Vincenzo Rabito".
Other research activities:
a) Research dissemination activities:
- Open lecture entitled Letteratura e Resistenza: Calvino, Fenoglio, Pavese, as part of the "Lezioni Sociali" series, organised by Tommaso Randazzo, under the patronage of Cinedrome, Hmora, and Biblios Cafè, Syracuse, 09/12/2025.
- Training seminar on Il cavaliere e la morte by Leonardo Sciascia, as part of the series «L'italiano è il ragionare». 6 Lezioni di didattica sulle opere di Leonardo Sciascia, organised by the Associazione Amici di Leonardo Sciascia (online event, via Zoom, 05/11/2025).
- European Researchers' Night 2024: dramatised reading entitled «Se la letteratura non glielo apprende». Verga, Pirandello, Pavese: mappe e hyperedizioni, CUT – University Theatre Centre, University of Catania, 27/09/2024 (co-author, co-curator, and performer alongside Laura Giurdanella, Lucia Portale, Liborio Barbarino, Christian D'Agata, and Pietro Sichera).
- Presentation of Cesare Pavese, L'opera poetica. Testi editi, inediti, traduzioni, edited by A. Sichera and A. Di Silvestro, Feltrinelli Bookshop, Catania, 08/04/2024 (event organised as part of PRIN 2022 PAVES-e. Per un'edizione-archivio digitale dell'opera di Pavese).
- Lecture-conference entitled «Sapete voi cos'è stata la guerra di Spagna?». Conflitto reale e interiore nell'Antimonio di Leonardo Sciascia, Liceo "Lombardo Radice", Catania, 20/03/2024.
b) Participation as speaker at the following national congresses, conferences, and study days:
- MeMo. Memoria e mezzogiorno: una mappa letteraria dal 1945 a oggi (Naples, 20–21 January 2026), closing conference of the PRIN 2022 PNRR project Memoria e Mezzogiorno (MeMo). Una mappa letteraria dal 1945 a oggi; paper title: La festa e l'abbaglio: guerra e industria a Gela, con Sciascia e Consolo.
- Egemonie e margini nella letteratura italiana, XXVIII Congress of the Associazione degli Italianisti (AdI), Genoa, 11–13 September 2025, panel entitled Spartenze, restanze, ritornanze. Periferie geografiche e umane nella letteratura meridionale contemporanea, proposed within the PRIN 2022 PNRR project Memoria e Mezzogiorno (MeMo). Una mappa letteraria dal 1945 a oggi (proposers: Fara Autiero, Scuola Superiore Meridionale di Napoli; Concetta Maria Pagliuca, UniNa); paper title: Gli «scappati» e gli «spersi». Emigrati siciliani in Germania nelle "ricreazioni" di Stefano Vilardo e Giuliana Saladino.
- Una mole di carta. Archivi, biblioteche e documenti della modernità letteraria, annual conference of the Società italiana per la modernità letteraria (MOD), Turin, 12–14 June 2025; paper title: I cerini di Pavese. Cose e consuetudini del fumare da Lavorare stanca a Il carcere.
- PAVES-e. Per una Hyperedizione dell'opera di Pavese, Study Days organised as part of PRIN 2022 PAVES-e. Per un'edizione-archivio digitale dell'opera di Pavese: discussion of research cases and round table with the participation of the research teams from the UniCt and UniTo units, Department of Humanities, Turin, 13–14 March 2025.
- Kafka al crocevia. Prospettive interdisciplinari di ricerca, Study Day, 5 December 2024, Ragusa; paper title: «In questa nera nera nave»: (ri)letture italiane del romanzo Amerika.
- Rotte Mediterranee. Migrazioni e ibridazioni nella Letteratura italiana, XXVII Congress of the Associazione degli Italianisti (AdI), Palermo, 12–14 September 2024, panel entitled I luoghi e la memoria. La letteratura meridionale dal 1945 a oggi, proposed within the PRIN 2022 PNRR project Memoria e Mezzogiorno (MeMo). Una mappa letteraria dal 1945 a oggi (proposers: Bernardo De Luca, University of Naples "Federico II"; Giuseppe Palazzolo, University of Catania; discussant: Fara Autiero, Scuola Superiore Meridionale di Napoli); paper title: «Steli luminosi» e «scintillio di vernici». Sciascia, Gela, e la storia civile e industriale d'Italia.
- Moderno e antimoderno. Le avventure di una contrapposizione, annual conference of the Società italiana per la modernità letteraria (MOD), Milan, 13–15 June 2024; paper title: Il tridente e la «macchina da battere». Cesare Pavese e la campagna senza idillio di Paesi tuoi.
- Cesare Pavese. L'opera poetica, Study Days organised as part of PRIN 2022 PAVES-e. Per un'edizione-archivio digitale dell'opera di Pavese, Auditorium "Giancarlo De Carlo", Catania, 19/04/2024; activity carried out: presentation of Guido Baldi, Un'impossibile maturità, Naples, Liguori, 2023.
c) Organisation and scientific coordination of congresses, conferences, and study days:
- Member of the scientific and organising committee of the conference I 100 Camilleri, Ragusa, 5–6 March 2026.
- Member of the scientific and organising committee of the Study Day Kafka al crocevia. Prospettive interdisciplinari di ricerca, Ragusa, 5 December 2024.