In Memoriam. Thomas Kinsella (1928-2021). Dublin, Turin, Philadelphia

In remembering Thomas Kinsella in this obituary, the author has dwelt on a little-publicized event of the poet's life, the granting of an honorary degree by the Turin University on 9 May 2006. The occasion is seen as a belated homage to a poet who had not always received his due in the past and as a harbinger of the full recognition that was to be granted to him in the succeeding years. By analysing his Acceptance Speech, the poem he read at the ceremony and the informal conversations that took place at the time, the author identifies some important concerns that would emerge in Kinsella's Late Poems that dwell on ageing, taking stock of one's life, understanding and belief

Lady Morgan in Italy: A Traveller with an Agenda

Lady Morgan (née Sydney Owenson) was a professional Irish travellerand travel-writer, who spent over a year on the peninsula. The travelogueItaly (1821) she was commissioned to write on the basis of the reputationshe had acquired as a novelist (e.g. The Wild Irish Girl, 1806) anda socio-political writer (France, 1817), left a mark on Italy and on theunderstanding of Italy in Great Britain. Her writings, in fact, helpeddisseminate the ideal of a unified Italy and influence British and Irishpublic opinion in favour of Italy’s aspirations to cast off foreign or domesticautocratic rule. Moreover, she used her travelogue to serve thecause of Ireland disguising a patriotic message about her home countryunder her many sallies about nationalism and the right to self-determinationconcerning Italy. The political impact of her book, unusualfor a travel account written by a woman, was enhanced by Morgan’sradical ideology, the gender bias of her observations and her originalmethods. The present article purposes to examine Morgan’s double,feminine and masculine, approach of mixing solid documentation withapparently frivolous notes originating in the feminine domain of societynews, commentary on the domestic scene and emotional reporting onsocial and historical events. Distrusting male-authored official history,Morgan gave a central place in her work to the informal sources fromwhich she gathered her insights about Italy. Analysing how she came toobtain the contemporary input for elaborating her ideas will be the aimof this chapter which will dwell on the more worldly aspects of Morgan’ssojourn in the peninsula focussing on the company she kept, theactivities she partook of, the events of a domestic nature she witnessed

“Our revenge will be to survive”: Two Irish Narrations of the Armenian Genocide

The 1915-1922 Armenian Genocide has been the subject of memoirs and historical accounts, most of them written by diasporic Armenians, but, unlike the Shoah, has not inspired much creative literature. It is therefore the more surprising that the latest fictional accounts should come from Ireland. Anyush (2014), the novel of Limerick-born Martine Madden, and a film called The Promise (2015) by the Irish director Terry George, both tell moving and impossible love stories which are a thin pretext for eliciting empathy for the sufferings of the Armenians and fighting the lack of recognition of the genocide. While giving a graphic description of the abuses at the hands of Turkish soldiers and of the nightmarish journey of the deportees starved to death, decimated by epidemics and herded through mountains and deserts with no precise destination except death, the two authors evoke memories of similar past and present actions in the world intended to annihilate an ethnic group with its language and culture. Writing about one group resonates against the histories of the others, in a sort of mise en abyme of blind human violence and ethnic hatred. The interest of Madden and George in the historical facts concerning this large Christian minority of the Ottoman Empire, much as it was inspired by compassion and a desire to denounce this still unrecognized massacre, may be due to a special sensitivity to the suppression of identity linked to a nationalist reading of the history of Ireland and more particularly of the Great Famine

“Our revenge will be to survive”: Two Irish Narrations of the Armenian Genocide

The 1915-1922 Armenian Genocide has been the subject of memoirs and historical accounts, most of them written by diasporic Armenians, but, unlike the Shoah, has not inspired much creative literature. It is therefore the more surprising that the latest fictional accounts should come from Ireland. Anyush (2014), the novel of Limerick-born Martine Madden, and a film called The Promise (2015) by the Irish director Terry George, both tell moving and impossible love stories which are a thin pretext for eliciting empathy for the sufferings of the Armenians and fighting the lack of recognition of the genocide. While giving a graphic description of the abuses at the hands of Turkish soldiers and of the nightmarish journey of the deportees starved to death, decimated by epidemics and herded through mountains and deserts with no precise destination except death, the two authors evoke memories of similar past and present actions in the world intended to annihilate an ethnic group with its language and culture. Writing about one group resonates against the histories of the others, in a sort of mise en abyme of blind human violence and ethnic hatred. The interest of Madden and George in the historical facts concerning this large Christian minority of the Ottoman Empire, much as it was inspired by compassion and a desire to denounce this still unrecognized massacre, may be due to a special sensitivity to the suppression of identity linked to a nationalist reading of the history of Ireland and more particularly of the Great Famine

Italia Mia: Irish-European Entanglements in the Nineteenth Century

AAV

Itinerario di un tiranno: dal Macbeth tragico di Shakespeare al Macbett assurdo di Ionesco

L’intervento è finalizzato ad analizzare il Macbeth tragico di Shakespeare, in cui i temi principali sono la legittimazione e la sovversione del potere, e due testi francesi: Ubu roi di Jarry e Macbett di Ionesco. Se nel primo troviamo un forte pessimismo nella storia che lo porterà verso il surreale, il secondo, più filosofico e scettico rispetto a una azione politica positiva, lo porterà verso la religione. Entrambi mettono in discussione il genere tragico come sistema di significazione attraverso un rovesciamento e a una ridicolizzazione della figura dell’eroe

Lady Morgan in Italy: A Traveller with an Agenda

Lady Morgan (née Sydney Owenson) was a professional Irish traveller<br />and travel-writer, who spent over a year on the peninsula. The travelogue<br /><em>Italy</em> (1821) she was commissioned to write on the basis of the reputation<br />she had acquired as a novelist (e.g. <em>The Wild Irish Girl</em>, 1806) and<br />a socio-political writer (<em>France</em>, 1817), left a mark on Italy and on the<br />understanding of Italy in Great Britain. Her writings, in fact, helped<br />disseminate the ideal of a unified Italy and influence British and Irish<br />public opinion in favour of Italy’s aspirations to cast off foreign or domestic<br />autocratic rule. Moreover, she used her travelogue to serve the<br />cause of Ireland disguising a patriotic message about her home country<br />under her many sallies about nationalism and the right to self-determination<br />concerning Italy. The political impact of her book, unusual<br />for a travel account written by a woman, was enhanced by Morgan’s<br />radical ideology, the gender bias of her observations and her original<br />methods. The present article purposes to examine Morgan’s double,<br />feminine and masculine, approach of mixing solid documentation with<br />apparently frivolous notes originating in the feminine domain of society<br />news, commentary on the domestic scene and emotional reporting on<br />social and historical events. Distrusting male-authored official history,<br />Morgan gave a central place in her work to the informal sources from<br />which she gathered her insights about Italy. Analysing how she came to<br />obtain the contemporary input for elaborating her ideas will be the aim<br />of this chapter which will dwell on the more worldly aspects of Morgan’s<br />sojourn in the peninsula focussing on the company she kept, the<br />activities she partook of, the events of a domestic nature she witnessed

Introduction

<p>The introduction to the monographic section <em>Italy-Ireland: Cultural Inter-Relations, </em>gives a brief account of how this part of the journal tries to fill a gap in transcultural studies by investigating the hitherto relatively underexplored relationship of Ireland with Italy. The editors argue that the topic deserves special attention because throughout the centuries, owing to a shared religion and Ireland’s colonial and postcolonial status, a special relationship was established. Without neglecting the many contributions published on this topic over the past thirty years, the papers collected in this first issue of SIJIS offer an overall view of the relations between Italy and Ireland from the Middle Ages to the present day demonstrating this special relationship.</p> <p>The opening essay, drawing an ample and interdisciplinary panorama of the representations of Ireland in Italy over the centuries, and  the concluding one, introducing new issues and suggestions for further investigations, frame seven papers organized thematically in subsections.  The translation studies section highlights some specific problems presented to the translator because of the Irish nature of the translated texts. Exploration of the links between some major figures and Italy opens up new perspectives even regarding much studied figures such as Joyce while  the time-honoured comparative method of studying influences yields ground-breaking insights as in the study of links between Commedia dell’Arte and Clarke or Mahon and Pasolini. Representations of Italy and  the presence of Italian settings and characters acquire  a specific Irish edge in the writings of Synge, Lady Morgan and Edward Maturin especially when both countries were still in search  of their identities.</p><em> </em