A generational death: on the road to the tondellian individualism

The work of Tondelli, concentrated in a period of ten years, is the representation of his contemporary world, which can be defined through the tag of postmodernity. Rock music, Andrea Pazienza’s comics, electronic music, drugs, radio libere, songwriters and the emergence of a marginal culture all form an epic of the everyday life of a generation that oscillates between injections of vitalism and self-destruction, between the euphoria of the parties and nostalgia. The aim of this paper is to contribute to this line of Tondellian studies through an analysis of the author’s ideological evolution based on the reading of three cardinal works: Altri libertini (1980), Dinner party (1985) and Camere separate (1989). The first novel offers a new form of narrating, a literary model of quick and voracious reading. Not only that, but also its language becomes the protagonist of the text and it will give voice to the “fauna giovanile”, that is, to generational poetics. In 1983, however, the murder of Francesca Alinovi symbolizes a profound turning point: the ashes of the phoenix are no longer fruitful and the “resurrection” function can no longer be activated. Dinner party advances the destruction of the group through a fracture that will no longer allow the recomposition. Camere separate, published in 1989, demonstrates the definitive loss of the value of generational poetics. Writing will serve to investigate oneself and reaffirm the individual.