Cause perdute. Memorie, rappresentazioni e miti dei vinti

The lost causes. Memories, Representations and Myths of the Defeated

The lost causes are a complex phenomenon of cultural and intellectual currents: fateful designs and frustrating aspirations that continue capturing imagination, igniting passions, stir sympathies, and develop collective identities after the original forces have disappeared. Systematically defeated, they survive the winners and defeats, inspiring hopes, idealism and irrepressible romance. This number of «Meridiana» focuses on cases that produce effective rhetorical structures. In order to maintain a pro le of organicity among the proposed cases, but also for the close links between some lost causes and civil wars, it suggests an examination of experiences where the conclusion of con icts has a close relationship with the formation of modern states.

Keywords: Lost Causes; Cultures of Defeats; Civil Wars; Memory and History.