18 research outputs found
Rediscovering W. H. G. Kingstonâs Arctic Narrative: Ethnocultural encounters and generic experimentation
This article examines a forgotten nineteenth-century boysâ adventure novel, Peter the Whaler (1851), written by William Henry Giles Kingston. After briefly introducing the author and his changing fortune, the article focuses on two specific aspects of Peter the Whaler, namely, its generic complexity and its thought-provoking representation of Inuit characters. A first aspect taken into account is the remarkable generic hybridity of Kingstonâs novel, which sheds light on the complex narrative experimentation conducted by Victorian writers and, especially, on their development and commercialisation of popular forms, such as the juvenile adventure novel. Besides merging realism with romance, Kingston makes an interesting use of gothic paraphernalia, and he combines elements of adventure fiction with a religious discourse that marks the distinction of his whole oeuvre. Worthy of attention are also the novelâs pictures of Inuit people and culture. These pictures contrast with the racial assumptions endorsed by Victorian anthropologists and writers, including Charles Dickens, who famously disparaged Inuit testimonies in his 1854 articles to defend John Franklin and his men from allegations of cannibalism. The comparison between Kingston and Dickens offered in the article confirms the innovativeness of the ethnocultural encounters narrated in Peter the Whaler, suggesting further reasons why this novel deserves to be rediscovered and reinterpreted in our age
Sensational artists in Italy : mid-Victorian variations of the Kunstlerroman plot
Before the nineteenth century, the Grand Tour had been 'an indispensable
form of education for young men in the higher ranks of society' -a
traditional rite of passage for all those who wished to complete their
Bildung. Upper- and middle-class Victorians still held this conviction.
The Mediterranean, in particular, was a favourite destination for their
journeys. Both the common traveller and the budding artist were encouraged
to visit Southern lands, whose natural beauties and artistic heritage
were expected to widen their cultural horizon. The most popular destination
for artists was Italy. Cities like Rome, Florence and Naples offered
precious opportunities to study Classical and Renaissance architecture,
sculpture and painting. The close link between Italy and artistic initiation
is suggested, among others, by Attilio Brilli, who mentions Giacomo
Barri's Viaggio pittorico (1671) and its English equivalent, The Painter's
Voyage to Italy by William Lodge (1679), as compulsory readings for
the Grand Tourist.peer-reviewe
'This extraordinary apathy' : Wilkie Collins, Italy and the contradictions of the Risorgimento
As is well known, Italy was a cultural magnet for the Victorians. Its
language, lore and society became objects of growing intellectual curiosity
during the nineteenth century, while the political debates over the
Risorgimento directly involved the English public. Traditionally conceived
as a setting for Gothic fantasies and a main destination of the Grand
Tour, Italy also came to be perceived as a source of political and
ideological contention in the age of Victoria, when the ideas of radical
thinkers and political exiles stirred both English sympathies and fears.
The convergence of different meanings turned Italy into a fluid, semantically
unstable trope. As Annemarie McAllister observes, 'the Italian'
was specifically constructed as a ' multifaceted and multivalent cultural
object'. This semantic complexity was due to the merging of two main
concepts.peer-reviewe
Polar contagion. Ecogothic anxiety across media in the twenty-first century
Concerns about climate change have seen increased attention across virtually all media after 2000. In addition to raising ecological awareness, these concerns have inspired numerous gothic fictions, in which the polar thaw consequent on global warming becomes a source of paranoia, fear and horror. This article explores a specific group of twenty-first-century cultural products that associate polar melting with epidemics triggered by pathogens or infectious insects released after lying dormant in the ice. Often called âzombieâ viruses or bacteria, these pathogens appear in a wide range of fictions as well as in sensational articles that use gothic paraphernalia to describe the spread of terrible diseases. Like spectres, these agents of contagion return from the past to haunt the present; they also cast a dark shadow upon the future, as they become the invisible protagonists of âdystopian ecological visionsâ in which humankind and other species are at risk of annihilation. Four types of products are analysed to demonstrate that they convey similar anxieties by combining images of environmental disaster with pandemics. Different though they are in genre and medium, novels like Thawâs Hammer (2010), films like The Thaw (2009) and TV series like Fortitude (2015-18) not only interrogate the epistemological limits of science; they also shed light onto dangerous socioeconomic dynamics while posing ethical dilemmas about the human meddling with nature. Mostly produced before the spread of coronavirus, these fictions are made more appealing by the current pandemic, which has encouraged speculation over new potential sources of contagion. Their appeal is confirmed by the 2020 proliferation of newspaper/magazine articles focusing on âzombieâ pathogens. By merging objectivity with sensationalism, these articles turn pathogens into spectral agents that seek revenge for human crimes against nature
Making Space : Key Popular Women Writers Then and Now
Peer reviewedPublisher PD
La letteratura dal punto di vista degli scrittori
La storia della critica letteraria Ăš stata generalmente esaminata dal
punto di vista degli studiosi di teoria. Manca, a tuttâoggi, una visione
dâinsieme che esamini in maniera sistematica la critica letteraria dal
punto di vista interno, ovvero degli autori stessi. Muovendo da tali
premesse, il volume propone unâarticolata analisi dei «discorsi» sulla
letteratura prodotti da scrittori di lingua inglese, dalla seconda metĂ
del Cinquecento a oggi. Allo scopo di dare ordine a una materia
ampia e frastagliata, sono state individuate tre principali tipologie
discorsive, o forme testuali, attraverso cui gli autori hanno dato
voce alle proprie idee sulla letteratura. A tali tipologie discorsive
corrispondono le tre sezioni in cui Ăš stata suddivisa la materia
critica del volume. La prima sezione, «Saggi e paratesti», esamina
le teorie letterarie esposte in forma di saggi, prefazioni, commenti
da parte dellâautore. La seconda sezione, «Disseminazioni», analizza
le idee sulla letteratura sparse allâinterno di romanzi, drammi,
poesie. La terza sezione, infine, «Maschere dâautore», si concentra
sulle teorie letterarie la cui esposizione Ăš affidata a un alter ego
dello scrittore, ovvero a una maschera parzialmente autobiografica.
Ne emerge un quadro ricco e composito allâinterno del quale teoria
e prassi letteraria si arricchiscono reciprocamente, fino a fondersi in
una piĂč complessa unitĂ i cui confini appaiono labili, indefiniti,
negoziabili
Itinerarium mentis in Deum: religiosita' e sovversione nella poesia di Christina Rossetti e Gerard Manley Hokins
Dottorato di ricerca in anglistica. 11. ciclo. Relatore Francesco MarroniConsiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Biblioteca Centrale - P.le Aldo Moro, 7, Rome; Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale - P.za Cavalleggeri, 1, Florence / CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle RichercheSIGLEITItal
Sherlock Holmesâs Precursors: Eccentrics, Amateur Sleuths and Oriental Mysteries in Wilkie Collins
Wilkie Collins is undeniably one of the initiators of the detective novel. The role he played in creating the new form was famously consecrated by T. S. Eliot, who defined The Moonstone (1868) as âthe first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novelsâ. In later decades of the twentieth century, scholars have widely assessed the contribution Collins gave to the launch and development of the detective genre. As Robert Ashley declared in 1960, Collins âshould have to his credit..
âI hate him. No, I donât⊠I hate myselfâ: Wilkie Collins and the Anatomy of Hatred
Ă lâĂ©poque victorienne, une discussion constante des valeurs fut associĂ©e aux relations interpersonnelles. La rapiditĂ© des changements affectant la sociĂ©tĂ© crĂ©a de nouvelles attentes, de nouvelles expĂ©riences psychiques et de nouveaux modes de catĂ©gorisation de lâimpact Ă©motionnel que les Ă©changes interpersonnels causaient sur la subjectivitĂ©. Wilkie Collins fait partie des Ă©crivains qui, de façon rĂ©pĂ©tĂ©e, dramatisa le conflit entre lâindividu et la sociĂ©tĂ© normative. Dans ses Ćuvres de fiction, la haine non seulement informe la dynamique sociale interne de son Ă©poque, mais elle sert de rĂ©vĂ©lateur Ă une curiositĂ© portant sur des concepts psycho-ontologiques auxquels on accordera une importance toute particuliĂšre Ă la fin du XIXe siĂšcle. Cet article, au travers de lâanalyse des trajectoires passionnelles entre colĂšre-haine-vengeance mises en fiction dans Basil (1852) et Armadale (1864-6), explore lâintĂ©rĂȘt immuable que porte Collins aux sentiments antisociaux, ainsi que sa reprĂ©sentation complexe des expĂ©riences de dĂ©sagrĂ©gation et dâexĂ©cration de soi-mĂȘme qui allaient devenir des Ă©lĂ©ments centraux de la psychanalyse moderne