A Great and Terrible World

The Pre-Prison Letters (1908-1926) of Antonio Gramsci

 This collection of letters written by Antonio Gramsci before he was imprisoned vividly evokes the ‘great and terrible world’ in which he lived. It also includes rarely seen photographs.

This collection of letters shows Gramsci beginning to form the theoretical concepts that come to fuller fruition in the Prison Notebooks, but they also give an essential and rounded picture of Gramsci’s development, politically, intellectually and emotionally – the latter especially through letters to his family and wife Jul’ka.

The letters constitute a fascinating insight into the period, both with regard to the Communist International and to Italian politics. The volume includes the famous letter of 1926 in which Gramsci criticises the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party for their handling of internal opposition.

The approximately 200 letters include some newly found and published for the first time. The collection begins with letters to Gramsci’s family as a student in Cagliari and ends with the last letter he wrote before his arrest in 1926. It includes a general introduction, a guide to the main personalities involved, and additional contextual information for each chapter.