About

Gian Maria Annovi is an Associate Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature at USC Dornsife. Originally from Italy, he studied Philosophy at the University of Bologna, where he graduated with a dissertation on Giacomo Leopardi and Andrea Zanzotto. He pursued graduate research in Contemporary Italian Literature at the same university and studied abroad at the Universitat de Barcelona and UCLA. He completed his PhD in Italian Studies at Columbia University in 2011, with a dissertation on Pier Paolo Pasolini, which received the P. P. Pasolini Award for Best Doctoral Dissertation. Annovi has published extensively on Italian poetry, the Italian Neo-avant-garde, and Pier Paolo Pasolini. His first book explores the relationship between de-centered subjectivity and corporeality in the poetry of prominent Italian authors. His second book, 'Pier Paolo Pasolini: Performing Authorship,' published by Columbia University Press in 2017, received the Howard R. Marraro Prize from the MLA and the International Flaiano Prize for Italian Studies. He has also edited multiple volumes and authored numerous book chapters and articles. His main research interests include twentieth-century Italian literature, cinema, and visual arts, with a strong focus on critical thought areas such as psychoanalytic theory, cultural studies, and gender and sexuality studies.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Gender studies
• Law
• History
• Aesthetics
• Art

Selected publications

• Corpi queer: Omosessualità, politica ed effeminatezza secondo Pasolini

  2021

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Political Science
  • Gender studies

  Some scholars criticize Pier Paolo Pasolini for his negative representation of homosexuality, his conservative views on gay politics, and his alleged internalized homophobia. While considering the impact of the socio-cultural context on Pasolini’s early view of homosexuality, this essay argues that, at the turn of the 70s, Pasolini conceived of homosexuality as an important force in the fight for real tolerance and an alternative to capitalist society. Some of his later writings, interviews, and projects show that Pasolini was indeed elaborating a radical, anti-identitarian homosexual politics, which can remind of some reflections developed by the queer movement two decades later. In particular, in the years before his premature death, despite his exclusive attraction to heterosexual male bodies, Pasolini came to consider and represent the effeminate homosexual body as a radical destabilizing force against hegemonic masculinity and homosexual identity politics.

  DOI

Awards & honors

• P. P. Pasolini Award for Best Doctoral Dissertation (2011)
• Howard R. Marraro Prize from the Modern Language Association…
• International Flaiano Prize for Italian Studies (2017)
• Creative Capital | The Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers G…

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