Material Catastrophes, Cultural Catastrophes: The Theme of Presence in the Basilicata of Missitalia

This paper analyses the peculiar way in which Claudia Durastanti narrates the theme of catastrophe in her recent novel Missitalia (2024), starting from a reclamation of the concept of presence, grounded in a nature-cultural conceptual broadening inspired by Donna Haraway’s speculative, feminist, and ecological thought. Adopting a materialist ecocritical methodology, the argument unfolds through the triple meaning of the English word “miss”, which shapes both the novel’s title and its narrative structure, touching themes such as colonialism, Italian oil history, ecology, and feminism. Ultimately, the paper demonstrates how, by operating on both formal and thematic levels, Durastanti constructs a rebellious and sabotaging narrative mechanism that redefines how catastrophe is addressed in literature.