Per una rinascita culturale nel secondo dopoguerra: il dibattitto sulla letteratura giovanile nei primi convegni nazionali (1954-56)

[Autom. eng. transl.] The years after World War II represent a fundamental period in the development of youth literature. Indeed, a renewed attention is emerging not only in relation to creative production but also in reference to critical reflection. The non-fiction production on children's literature of the fifties and sixties contributes to the renewal of the discipline where it is placed in a critical relationship with the previous culture (Petrini, 1956; Bargellini, 1953; Sacchetti, 1962); while the birth of important sector magazines (“Schedario” of Florence and “Il Minuzzolo” of Genoa), becomes a fundamental tool for information on children's books. Alongside the diffusion of literary works of aesthetic-formal quality, the incidence of literature for children is manifested in ever more conscious forms in the social context of reference, thanks to the start of research of personalistic derivation on the relationship between pedagogy and literature and to initiatives aimed at the active participation of the child, favored after the war by the resumption of a pedagogical approach aimed at recognizing the subjectivity and rights of the child. A significant part of this cultural climate is the dialectical and constructive debate activated within some national conferences that have made it possible to highlight the criticalities and potentialities of the sector: the 1st National Conference "Culture and Youth" (Bologna, from 12 to 13 December 1954) and the II National Conference of Writers for Children and Youth (Bologna, from 15 to 17 December 1956). This contribution intends to analyze the reflective contribution and the critical influence of these two initiatives, which made youth literature an area of consistent pedagogical reflection and a promising epistemological foundation. These were debating events that, in addition to critically reworking the existing editorial lines, allowed to give new life to the sector in view of subsequent literary innovations in the post-war cultural panorama.