Images of Italy and Italians in the modern English novel

Abstract

The English literary imagination has been nourished on the experience and idea of Italy for centuries, at least since Chaucer's Italian visits in 1372 and 1378. A combination of survey, critical analysis and theory, the thesis examines the idea of Italy and the Italians in fiction in English from Henry James to the present. The thesis provides an inclusive account of literary themes and motifs about Italy and the Italians in the modern English novel, defining the modem tradition of fiction about Italy established by James, E.M. Forster and D.H. Lawrence, and describing the continuities and discontinuities which extend to postmodern, international fiction in English about Italy and Italians. No single theoretical model is employed. An eclectic approach is favoured in order to draw together cultural history, literary history, discourse analysis, literary criticism and biography. In addition, the aim has been to recapture and examine the sense of flux and the idea of self­realisation through art which characterise the Italianate impulse in past and present English fiction. In terms of method and focus, the thesis converses with ideas about Italy and the Italians, literary tradition, recent theories about the representation of place, and the notion of Italy as a favoured site for the development of literary identity and style. An introduction traces the early development of the Italian image and establishes themes which appear in the succeeding chapters: othernessð€€œ cultural and self identity; the 'gaze'; 'seeing' as a metaphor for self-knowledge; the importance of place in the formation of identity; and the connections between artistic representation and place. The second chapter, on Henry James, defines some of the main terms of the recent tradition, including the relationship between Italy and the act of imaginative creation. The James chapter examines the influence of Romanticism on his Italian work; the 'Italian' contradictions in his fiction; and his search, expressed in traditional Italianate tropes, for a transcending equilibrium. James's Italian tales are given equal consideration with the novels, and both are discussed in relation to the travel essays collected as Italian Hours. The third chapter, on E.M. Forster, focuses on the conflict between chaos and order in Forster's Italian fiction, and his concern with further perennial 'Italian' themes, including paganism, the Edenic myth, and the importance of art in self-becoming. The Italian motifs in Forster's stories are compared with those in his Italian novels Where Angels Fear to Tread and A Room with a View. A shorter chapter on D.H. Lawrence outlines his problematic place in the tradition. The final section deals with Italianate postmodernism. A lengthy introduction raises general issues and is followed by closer readings of texts which demonstrate the relevance of 'Italy' to postmodern writing in English. The English, American and Australian authors chosen for closer comment include Robert Coover, Robert Dessaix, Michael Dibdin, Ian McEwan, Michele Roberts, William Trevor and Jeanette Winterson. The final section illustrates the continuity of the image of Italy, especially the way its reputation as artifice lends itself to elaborate, postmodern metafiction.