Journal | Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie occidentale
Monographic journal issue | 53 | Supplemento | 2019
Research Article | Fare gli italiani dell’anno 3000
Fare gli italiani dell’anno 3000
Paolo Mantegazza e le prospettive future dell’amore nell’Italia postunitaria
Abstract
In 1897 the Italian anthropologist Paolo Mantegazza published The year 3000. A dream, a science fiction novel in which he described the future order of mankind through the journey of a couple. While recent historiography has focused on the eugenic elements of the book, this article discusses the social and gender matters that underpin the novel. Indeed, on the basis of the emotional paradigm of romantic love, Mantegazza put the ‘sexual reform’ of the post-unified Italy at the centre of his work. Believing that «love was the first instrument of progress», he aimed to show how under the guidance of science, humanity as well as Italian society would have a future of happiness and prosperity.
Submitted: March 7, 2019 | Accepted: April 29, 2019 | Published Nov. 27, 2019 | Language: it
Keywords Romantic love • Sexuality • Paolo Mantegazza • Science fiction • Italian positivism
Copyright © 2019 Francesca Campani. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/AnnOc/2499-1562/2019/01/026
