Le figure dell’intellettuale nei saggi di Franco Fortini: chierico, corpo celeste, talpa, chi mette una forza

Abstract

The essay analyzes the evolution of Fortini’s reflection on the figure and role of the intellectual within society and the cultural industry, from the post-World War II period to the 1980s. By examining Dieci inverni, Verifica dei poteri, Questioni di frontiera, and Insistenze, the author reconstructs its main trajectories and shifting metaphors: from the “clerk in service” of cultural mediation, to the astronomical “celestial body”, and finally to the “mole” called upon to burrow into the folds of capitalist media to expose their intrinsic contradictions. In the final phase, Fortini states the necessity of a critic who focuses on the book publishing industry. The goal is to provide today’s cognitive workers with tools for political self-awareness, urging them to reject the compromises of neoliberalism and rediscover a collective responsibility.