[Men and Not Men] (1945) is the first major Italian novel to be published after the end of World War II. Its importance lies in its historical background as well as in the innovative narrative solutions introduced by Elio Vittorini. On the one hand, it is a novel considered by many critics a major Neorealist work; at the same time, however, it is also a metanarrative novel with some techniques that recall modernism.

Elio Vittorini wrote Uomini e no in the middle of one of his most prolific periods. In 1938 he had published Conversazione in Sicilia [Conversation in Sicily], widely recognized as his masterpiece, while in 1941 he edited Americana, an anthology of American short stories that he himself translated. This collection included works by E.A. Poe, Henry James, Stephen

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Citation: Mazzola, Claudio. "Uomini e no". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 December 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=39310, accessed 24 November 2024.]