Luciano Canfora

Luciano Canfora (Italian pronunciation: [luˈtʃaːno ˈkaɱfora]; born 5 June 1942) is an Italian classicist and historian. Born in Bari, Canfora obtained his first degree in Roman History in 1964 at Pisa University. He has for some years been Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of Bari. His specialty is ancient libraries and his book The Vanished Library,^[1] which is about the Library of Alexandria, has been translated into some 15 languages.^[2]

Since 1975, Canfora has edited the periodical Quaderni di storia. In 1998, he published a rebuttal of Elena Agarossi and Victor Zaslavsky's work, Togliatti e Stalin. Il PCI e la politica estera staliniana negli archivi di Mosca, about criticism of Palmiro Togliatti and the Italian Communist Party.^[3] He stood in the 1999 European Parliament election in Italy for the Party of Italian Communists. In 2004, Canfora published a history of democracy under the title La democrazia. Storia di un'ideologia.^[4]

^ Canfora, Luciano (1989). The Vanished Library. London: Hutchinson Radius. ISBN 978-0-09-174049-8. OCLC 19847537.
^ "Cànfora, Luciano". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
^ Canfora, Luciano (1998). Togliatti e i critici tardi (in Italian). Rome: Teti. pp. 91–94. ISBN 978-8-8703-9781-9. Canfora describes the book by Elena Agarossi and Victor Zaslavsky as "a vibrant pamphlet that exploits some documents, rhapsodically selected and mostly already known, with the very firm intention of demonstrating a single assumption: that the PCI's policy was always and totally subordinate to Stalin's directives." According to Canfora, what he describes as the prejudicial anti-communism of the book reaches, in his own words, an "exhilarating aspect" when the two authors accuse the PCI of an insurrectionist drift. He states that the party considered the possibility of reacting with arms only if the United States "had intervened to prevent the imminent political elections" of April 1948. Since he says the thesis of Agarossi and Zaslavsky is that "communism is evil", a PCI that tries to defend itself and not to be overwhelmed does nothing but practice evil. He writes: "Rarely had one fallen so low in a self-styled book of history." Regarding the Salerno Turn, Agarossi and Zaslavskij argue that the occupying Allied powers would have supported the National Liberation Committee government, which would have removed Badoglio from power, ignoring, according to Canfora, "how tenaciously the English government supported the king and Badoglio". By reconstructing the story and downsizing Togliatti's role, Canfora argues that Agarossi and Zaslavskij arrive at a result that they did not intend: the one for which "Stalin is gigantic in diplomatic ability, farsightedness, and moderation". Canfora's conclusion is that if the authors "had really intended to do the noble job of scholars of history", they would have tried to understand the reasons for Togliatti's oscillations on such a tormented political choice, writing that "if they hadn't chosen to reduce the characters that affair, either to mere tools or to evil geniuses, would perhaps have had the result that a historian should care most about: understanding."{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
^ Canfora, Luciano (2004). La democrazia. Storia di un'ideologia (in Italian). Bari: Editori Laterza. ISBN 978-8-8420-7298-0.

[1] Canfora, Luciano (1989). The Vanished Library. London: Hutchinson Radius. ISBN 978-0-09-174049-8. OCLC 19847537.

[2] "Cànfora, Luciano". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. Retrieved 4 July 2023.

[3] Canfora, Luciano (1998). Togliatti e i critici tardi (in Italian). Rome: Teti. pp. 91–94. ISBN 978-8-8703-9781-9. Canfora describes the book by Elena Agarossi and Victor Zaslavsky as "a vibrant pamphlet that exploits some documents, rhapsodically selected and mostly already known, with the very firm intention of demonstrating a single assumption: that the PCI's policy was always and totally subordinate to Stalin's directives." According to Canfora, what he describes as the prejudicial anti-communism of the book reaches, in his own words, an "exhilarating aspect" when the two authors accuse the PCI of an insurrectionist drift. He states that the party considered the possibility of reacting with arms only if the United States "had intervened to prevent the imminent political elections" of April 1948. Since he says the thesis of Agarossi and Zaslavsky is that "communism is evil", a PCI that tries to defend itself and not to be overwhelmed does nothing but practice evil. He writes: "Rarely had one fallen so low in a self-styled book of history." Regarding the Salerno Turn, Agarossi and Zaslavskij argue that the occupying Allied powers would have supported the National Liberation Committee government, which would have removed Badoglio from power, ignoring, according to Canfora, "how tenaciously the English government supported the king and Badoglio". By reconstructing the story and downsizing Togliatti's role, Canfora argues that Agarossi and Zaslavskij arrive at a result that they did not intend: the one for which "Stalin is gigantic in diplomatic ability, farsightedness, and moderation". Canfora's conclusion is that if the authors "had really intended to do the noble job of scholars of history", they would have tried to understand the reasons for Togliatti's oscillations on such a tormented political choice, writing that "if they hadn't chosen to reduce the characters that affair, either to mere tools or to evil geniuses, would perhaps have had the result that a historian should care most about: understanding."{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)

[4] Canfora, Luciano (2004). La democrazia. Storia di un'ideologia (in Italian). Bari: Editori Laterza. ISBN 978-8-8420-7298-0.

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