Giuseppe TRAINA

Giuseppe Traina (Catania, 1963), after completing his classical high school diploma, graduated in Modern Literature in 1987 from the University of Catania; in 1991 he obtained a PhD in Linguistic and Literary Sciences from the University of Catania with a thesis on Leonardo Sciascia, which was subsequently published; in the same year he won a state competitive examination for a teaching position in Literary Subjects in upper secondary schools and in Italian, History and Geography in lower secondary schools; from 1991/92 to 2000/2001 he taught at lower secondary schools, vocational institutes, technical institutes and language-oriented high schools in Vittoria, Modica and Ragusa; in 2001 he was successful in a comparative evaluation for a researcher position in Italian Literature at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures of Catania; confirmed in 2004 in the role of researcher, in 2010 he was deemed eligible in a comparative evaluation for an associate professor position in Italian Literature at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures of Catania; in 2014 he was confirmed in the role of associate professor. In 2023 he joined the role of full professor of Italian Literature at the Department of Humanities of the University of Catania.

He currently teaches Italian Literature, Comparative Literatures and Literature of Southern Italy at the SDS in Ragusa. In the past he has also taught Contemporary Italian Literature, Italian Theatre Literature, Italian and European Literatures, and Italian Language.

Since 2017 he has been a member of the teaching board of the PhD programme in "Sciences of Interpretation" at the University of Catania. From 2013 to 2017 he was a member and deputy coordinator of the teaching board of the PhD programme in "Literary, Philological-Linguistic and Historical-Cultural Studies" at the Universities of Palermo and Catania. From 2009 to 2013 he was a member of the teaching board of the PhD programme in "Modern Philology" at the University of Catania.

He is responsible for Erasmus agreements with the Universities of Avignon, Kraków, Liège, Lille, Nancy (Lorraine), Nice (Côte d'Azur), Strasbourg, Split, Szczecin and Warsaw.

He is a member of the Association of Italianists (ADI) and of the Centre for Sicilian Philological and Linguistic Studies.

He co-directs four literary essay series: with Luciano Curreri, the series "Le Drizze & Le Bandiere" published by Nerosubianco Edizioni; with Nunzio Zago, the series "Le scritture della buona vita" published by Siké Edizioni; with Luciano Curreri, Gabriele Fichera and Vittorio Frigerio, the series "ELEMENTS" published by Quodlibet; and with Nunzio Zago, Sergio Russo and Andrea Schembari, the series "I Semi" published by Siké Edizioni.

He sits on the scientific committees of the following journals: "Diacritica" (Diacritica Edizioni); "DNA. Di Nulla Academia – Rivista di studi camporesiani" (Alma DL – University of Bologna); "Lettera zero" (Edizioni Arcoiris); "Ottocento, Novecento e oltre" (Agorà edizioni); "Scritture e linguaggi dello sport" (Fabrizio Serra Editore); "Segno" (Palermo); "Spunti e Ricerche" (La Trobe University, Monash University); "Studi e problemi di critica testuale" (University of Bologna – Fabrizio Serra Editore); "Studi medievali e moderni" (University of Chieti – Paolo Loffredo editore); "Todomodo" (Associazione Amici di Leonardo Sciascia, Olschki Editore); "Trasparenze" (Fondazione Giorgio e Lilli Devoto / Edizioni San Marco dei Giustiniani).

He is a member of the scientific committee of the Gesualdo Bufalino Foundation of Comiso, the Verga Foundation of Catania and the Centre for Sicilian Philological and Linguistic Studies of Palermo.

He is a member of the scientific committee of the following book series: "La biblioteca dell'amaranto", directed by Mario Cimini for the publisher Carabba; "Insegnare letteratura", directed by Andrea Manganaro for the publisher Bonanno; "Certi nostri anniversari / Quelques-uns de nos anniversaires", directed by Luciano Curreri and Michel Delville for the publisher Mimesis; "La nave di Ulisse", directed by Margherita Ganeri and Ivan Pupo for the publisher Rubbettino; "Lettere persiane", directed by Luigi Weber for the publisher Mucchi.

He serves as an anonymous reviewer for several Italian studies journals.

He has written for specialist journals ("Annali della Fondazione Verga", "Avanguardia", "Bollettino '900", "Cahiers d'études italiennes", "Campi Immaginabili", "Chroniques italiennes en ligne", "Critica letteraria", "Diacritica", "Filologia antica e moderna", "Italianistica", "Kwartalnik Neofilologiczny", "La modernità letteraria", "La rassegna della Letteratura Italiana", "Le forme e la storia", "Letteratura & Arte", "Lettere italiane", "L'ospite ingrato", "O.B.L.I.O.", "Poli-femo", "P.R.I.S.M.I.", "Recherches", "Siculorum Gymnasium", "Spunti e ricerche", "Studi medievali e moderni", "Tirature", "Todomodo", "Trasparenze"), cultural magazines ("Belfagor", "Duel", "Il Giannone", "Il Ponte", "il Portolano", "Kalòs", "L'immaginazione", "L'Indice dei libri del mese", "Linea d'ombra", "Memorie della Accademia Lunigianese di Scienze «Giovanni Capellini»", "Nuova prosa", "Oggi e domani", "Pagine dal sud", "Segno", and others) and newspapers ("Diario della settimana", "il manifesto"). Some of his reviews have been anthologised in "Riga" and "L'illuminista".

He contributed to the 2005 update of the Bompiani Dictionary of Works and to the 2006 update of the Bompiani Dictionary of Authors.

At the Faculty and the SDS of Languages he has previously been involved in the management of the student online journal "Iblalab"; the celebration of World Poetry Day; the coordination of workshops on written Italian and the language of cinema; university orientation activities; the coordination of "other activities" workshops; the faculty library; and the organisation of the literary festival "Sabir".

I am a member of a research group (p. i. Prof. Stefano Rapisarda) dedicated to studying the relationships between Italian literature and the literatures of Mitteleuropa.

I have organised or contributed to organising the following conferences, seminars and study days:

1. Vitaliano Brancati scrittore del Novecento, Study Day of the "Feliciano Rossitto" Research Centre (Ragusa, 13 November 1995): he edited the publication of the Proceedings for the "Feliciano Rossitto" Research Centre;
2. Carceri vere e d'invenzione dal tardo Cinquecento al Novecento, International Conference of the Faculty of Languages of Ragusa and the Bufalino Foundation (Ragusa–Comiso, 14–16 November 2007): he edited, together with Nunzio Zago, the publication of the Proceedings for the publisher Bonanno;
3. Contributi in onore di Mario Tropea, Study Days of the Department of Modern Philology and the Faculties of Arts and Languages of the University of Catania (Catania–Ragusa, 18–19 May 2011): this gave rise to the festschrift co-edited with Giuseppe Sorbello, published by Lussografica;
4. "Il miglior fabbro". Bufalino fra tradizione e sperimentazione, conference organised by the Special Teaching Structure of Foreign Languages and Literatures of Ragusa and the Bufalino Foundation of Comiso (Ragusa–Comiso, 11–12 April 2013): he edited, together with Nunzio Zago, the publication of the proceedings for Euno Edizioni;
5. Angelo Maria Ripellino e altri ulissidi, conference organised by the Special Teaching Structure of Foreign Languages and Literatures of Ragusa (Ragusa, 6–7 April 2016): he edited, together with Nunzio Zago and Alessandra Schininà, the publication of the proceedings for Euno Edizioni;
6. Aspetti dell'ulissismo intellettuale dall'Ottocento a oggi, conference organised by the Special Teaching Structure of Foreign Languages and Literatures of Ragusa (Ragusa, 20–21 October 2016);
7. Ragusa e Montalbano. Voci del territorio in traduzione audiovisiva, international conference organised by the Special Teaching Structure of Foreign Languages and Literatures of Ragusa (Ragusa, 19–20 October 2017): he edited, together with Massimo Sturiale and Maurizio Zignale, the publication of the proceedings for Fondazione Doris e Cesare Zipelli – Euno Edizioni;
8. I linguaggi del potere, international conference organised by DISUM at the Special Teaching Structure of Foreign Languages and Literatures of Ragusa (Ragusa, 16–18 October 2019): he edited, together with Felice Rappazzo, the publication of the proceedings for Mimesis;
9. Bufalino fra i poeti del secondo Novecento, conference of the Gesualdo Bufalino Foundation (Comiso, 22–23 March 2024): he edited, together with Nunzio Zago, the publication of the proceedings for Archilibri;
10. Kafka al crocevia. Prospettive interdisciplinari di ricerca, Study Day of the EGEM research group (Ragusa Ibla, 5 December 2024): he edited, together with Valeria Di Clemente, Andrea Schembari and Alessandra Schininà, the publication of the proceedings for Artemide;
11. Bufalino e il romanzo poliziesco, conference of the Gesualdo Bufalino Foundation (Comiso, 6–7 June 2025);
12. I 100 Camilleri, conference of the University Consortium of the Province of Ragusa (Ragusa, 5–6 March 2026).

I have organised the following events:

1. Celebration of World Poetry Day (Special Teaching Structure of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Ragusa, 21 March 2014);
2. Celebration of World Poetry Day (Special Teaching Structure of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Ragusa, 21 March 2015);
3. Celebration of World Poetry Day (Special Teaching Structure of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Ragusa, 21 March 2019);
4. Letture Verghiane a Ragusa (event included in the national calendar of celebrations for the centenary of Verga's death, organised by the Verga Foundation; "Giovanni Verga" Municipal Library, Ragusa, 19 December 2022);
5. Celebration of World Poetry Day (Special Teaching Structure of Ragusa, 21 March 2023);
6. "Parole-chiave. Piccolo lessico della contemporaneità" (Special Teaching Structure of Ragusa, May–December 2023);
7. Celebration of World Poetry Day (Special Teaching Structure of Ragusa, 21 March 2024) with the participation of the poet Pietro De Marchi.