Preface. Echoes Across the Channel: Literature, Identity, and the Italian British Condition

The Preface introduces the special issue of «Fictions», which addresses the intersection of literature, history, and migration by exploring the Italian British exile and diaspora through a literary and artistic lens. It contributes to the growing field of Anglo-Italian Studies, with a particular focus on the narrative strategies, rhetorical devices, and linguistic techniques that Italian and Italian British writers have employed to represent displacement, cultural in-betweenness, and evolving forms of identity. The essays collected examine a wide array of texts – including novels, memoirs, autobiographies, letters, religious journals, war accounts, and hybrid works – produced from the nineteenth century to the present day. Together, they shed light on the diverse ways in which Italian and Italian British subjects have narrated their experiences of exile, migration, and diasporic belonging, offering a nuanced account of what it means to live and write between cultures.