ABSTRACT
The prosa d'arte, or rondista, style, was based on a fine recipe combining stylistic conservatism (the rejection of linguistic experimentalisms and of foreign fashions) and the cult of literature as a superior art freed from the interference of social and political issues. The accent on a purist approach to style meant that the rondisti preferred to work on short prose works, often descriptive rather than fictional, in which linguistic sophistication was the primary aim, taking priority over questions of content and ideology. According to various scholars, a preference for short prose works is one of the reasons why the publication of novels in Italy between the World Wars was seen as a debatable concession to popular taste, with a few successful exceptions such as the novels of Svevo, Pirandello and Tozzi. In the late 1920s, Vittorini published about half a dozen short stories which fall, to different extents, into the category of literary tableaux in the best prosa d'arte tradition.
