"Luce profuga" di Valerio Aioli e "La badante". "Un amore involontario" di Paolo Teobaldi: italiani a confronto con l’alterità

Abstract

In the 1990s, the figure of migrants began to appear in works by Italian writers. With few exceptions, migrants are negatively stereotyped and their encounters with Italians are superficial. The novels Luce profuga by Valerio Aiolli (2001) and La badante. Un amore volontario by Paolo Teobaldi (2004) are exceptions because they present migrants in a positive way and show that it is possible for some Italians to overcome their prejudices towards foreigners, and that the encounter with alterity can have positive outcomes especially for the natives. As asserted by Zygmunt Bauman (1997), foreigners are an agent of change because they make people reflect on themselves, abandon their routines and discover new ways of living. This essay analyses the encounters between Italians and migrants in these two novels and explores the role of migrants as agents of change.