Abstract

For about ten years after 1941, Felice Balbo played a key role at Giulio Einaudi's publishing house as it was establishing its international prestige and extraordinary catalogue. More than a simple advisor on philosophy, he was one of the publisher's most important consultants and played a leading role in the editorial board. His point of view - which we may call "ideologically non-ideological" - contributed both to Einaudi's aim to build a modern, "non-provincial" Italian culture, and to the ideological battle that took place within the publishing house as well as in the country at large. Balbo's involvement with Einaudi diminished and finally came to an end as he realized that he had lost this battle. Balbo's and Einaudi's stories cast light on one another, giving us better insight into the complex personality of both, in a historical moment when publishers played an essential role in rebuilding Italy's democratic and republican culture after Fascism.