Abstract

The article investigates textuality and communication in the first segment of Antonio Gramsci’s Letters from Prison (November 20, 1926-July 10, 1928). It focuses on the following aspects: the expression of memory and the vision of the future; the idea and practice of a precise and detail-oriented writing; the narration and description between wonder and scientific observation of human reality; modes of reflection on the world and the self; the linguistic features of emotionality and inner conflict. These phenomena reflect two main functions that are assumed in Gramsci’s epistolary writing: the reconstruction of subjective identity and the recovery of the intensity of life.