POST-MODERN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NOVEL JACK FRUSCIANTE HAS LEFT THE GROUP BY ENRICO BRIZZI PRESENTING THE WORLD OF ITALIAN YOUTH IN THE 1990s / POSTMODERNISTIČKE KARAKTERISTIKE ROMANA JACK FRUSCIANTE JE IZAŠAO IZ GRUPE ENRICA BRIZZIJA UZ PRIKAZ ...

Abstract

The novel Jack Frusciante Has Left the Group written by Italian author Enrico Brizzi was published in 1994. It presents the second phase of the Italian postmodernism which is mostly caused by social changes resulting from the student protests in the 1960s and from the 1968 Movement itself. The very novel is a step away from the mainstream literary tradition and is getting closer to the less important literature and to comics. It is full of musical connotations, from citing songs, to mentioning different authors and bands, but also of books and comics. Books, comics and movies are also presented. A reader who is unfamiliar with the music scene of that period will miss a good part of the meaning. The author frequently lets the reader decipher the intended meaning of the text. In this novel, all characteristics of the postmodern expression, like weaker subjects, crises of the core, changes in the language, intersexuality etc., can be found. The novel represents the whole generation, guided by the principles of consumption, and troubled by emotional gaps, and their problems. The novel includes numerous connotations exceeding literature as well, as it is intertwined with trivial and canonised literary forms. The language of this novel is the language of the group, primarily the language of music, but also the language of the young people from the end of the 20th century and, as such, it includes only one or few generations of readers. The author is constantly inviting the reader to a dialogue. The whole idea of this novel is leaving the group, i.e. alienation from social schemes. The young author significantly uses autobiographical elements in presenting his characters.