Dino Buzzati's Christmas themed stories: on the question of genre of Christmas carol in Italian literature

The authors’ goal is to attract attention to contemporary Italian Christmas themed prose and Dino Buzzati’s works in particular (approximately 30 Christmas stories and essays belong to the artistic heritage). The paper proves the rebirth of the literary genre of Christmas carol in Italian Literature after the fall of the fascism and the end of the WWII. The authors analyze in detail the genre transformation on the material of one of the greatest Italian writers of the 20th century. The paper examines the works taking into account both literary process and changing historical context. The article reveals the authors’ interpretation of the Christmas carol genre which consists in combining elements of fantasy and realism within a single work. Dino Buzzati not only continued, but also innovatively developed Dickens’ Christmas traditions. Buzzati’s stories highlight themes that have become traditional for the genre by that time. However, Dickensian images are actualized and updated, transferred to modernity, and problems of modern society are raised. Christmas in the works of Dino Buzzati and other writers seems to be the “mirror” of the world which is constantly developing. Therefore, comparative research, further analysis of the genre features of contemporary Italian Christmas story in the works of other authors proves to be a good perspective for further research.