Prison Notebooks

Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) is widely recognized as the most original political philosopher in the tradition of Western Marxism. Arrested and imprisoned by the Italian Fascist regime in 1926, he died before fully regaining his freedom. Yet his voluminous notebooks - thousands of pages of brlliant reflections on an extraordinary range of subjects, written within the confines of a tiny prison cell established an enduring intellectual legacy.

The only complete critical edition of these seminal writings in English, to be published in five volumes, Columbia's Prison Notebooks are based on the authoritative Italian edition, Quaderni del Carcere, prepared by Valentino Gerratana. Gramsci's twenty-nine notebooks, touching on diverse topics in history, philosophy, sociology, political theory, religion, education, literature, folklore, and linguistics offer a rare glimpse into this great thinker's intellectual workshop.

This long awaited second volume encompasses notebooks 3, 4, and 5, written during a period of intense activity for Gramsci between 1930 and 1932. Notebooks 3 and 5 display the characteristic breadth of his intellectual curiosity, with central threads including popular culture, Italian history, Americanism, and the Catholic Chruch as religious institution and formidable politico-ideological force. His reflections here also cover such subjects as the Renaissance and Reformation, language and linguistics, military and diplomatic history, and Japanese and Chinese culture.

Notebook 4 comprises three blocks of writings on specific topics that occupy an especially prominent place in Gramsci's overall project. In addition to an innovative reading of canto 10 of Dante's Inferno and a philosophical analysis of materialism and idealism, this notebook contains the first extensive draft of Gramsci's famous reflections on the history and role of intellectuals in society.

Joseph A. Buttigieg's copious notes guide readers through encyclopedic expanse of the Prison Notebooks, clarifying Gramsci's historical and cultural references and including cross-references to other notebooks as well as a name index. This beautifully translated edition presents the complete Gramsci, the way he ought to be read. It is an indespensable resource for scholars in all of the humanities and social sciences and a magisterial testament to the resilience of the human spirit.