An introduction to Franco Fortini, a Jewish communist and a major figure in postwar Italian intellectual life. It is against those who love to rush to the aid of the victors, against the widespread and racist contempt for Arabs, and against the celebration of modern civilization and technology that Israel embodies.
Franco Fortini (1917-94) was a poet, essayist, literary critic, Marxist intellectual, and translator of Brecht, Goethe, and Kafka, among others. Alberto Toscano teaches in the Department of Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is the author of Fanaticism and The Theatre of Production and the translator of several books by Alain Badiou.