ANGLO-AMERICAN NARRATIVES OF ITALIAN OTHERNESS AND THE POLITICS OF ORIENTALIZING SOUTHERN EUROPE
This essay reflects on Anglo-American literary representations of Italian culture from the perspective of postcolonial theory. Throughout history, many national and cultural entities have defined themselves in relation to foreign and “exotic” civilizations; this equally applies to “the exotic wit...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Idioma: | anglès |
| Publicat: |
AUW
2025
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| Accés en línia: | https://repository.auw.edu.bd/handle/123456789/584 |
| _version_ | 1857449038972977152 |
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| author | PIERINI, FRANCESCA |
| author_facet | PIERINI, FRANCESCA |
| author_sort | PIERINI, FRANCESCA |
| collection | institutional Repository |
| description | This essay reflects on Anglo-American literary representations of Italian culture from
the perspective of postcolonial theory. Throughout history, many national and cultural
entities have defined themselves in relation to foreign and “exotic” civilizations; this
equally applies to “the exotic within Europe.” Through a discussion of the works of
writers as various as E.M. Forster (The Story of a Panic, 1903), Frances Mayes (Under the
Tuscan Sun, 1997), and Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love, 2006), the essay describes a
tradition that celebrates Italy as an authentic cultural experience and at the same time
“orientalises” such a tradition by depicting it as a destabilizing threat and challenge to the
“rational mind,” allegedly represented by Anglo-American culture. The essay attempts to
disclose the degree of “imagined identity” that emerges from an on-going productive
dialogue with the “other within oneself.” It should not be possible to read nineteenth-century British literature without remembering
that imperialism, understood as England’s social mission, was a crucial part of the cultural
representation of England to the English. The role of literature in the production of cultural
representation should not be ignored. These two obvious ‘facts’ continue to be disregarded
in the reading of nineteenth-century British literature. This itself attests to the continuing
process of the imperialist project, displaced and dispersed into more modern forms.1 |
| format | Thesis |
| id | 123456789-584 |
| institution | Asian University for Women |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publisher | AUW |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | 123456789-5842026-02-18T06:15:01Z ANGLO-AMERICAN NARRATIVES OF ITALIAN OTHERNESS AND THE POLITICS OF ORIENTALIZING SOUTHERN EUROPE PIERINI, FRANCESCA This essay reflects on Anglo-American literary representations of Italian culture from the perspective of postcolonial theory. Throughout history, many national and cultural entities have defined themselves in relation to foreign and “exotic” civilizations; this equally applies to “the exotic within Europe.” Through a discussion of the works of writers as various as E.M. Forster (The Story of a Panic, 1903), Frances Mayes (Under the Tuscan Sun, 1997), and Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love, 2006), the essay describes a tradition that celebrates Italy as an authentic cultural experience and at the same time “orientalises” such a tradition by depicting it as a destabilizing threat and challenge to the “rational mind,” allegedly represented by Anglo-American culture. The essay attempts to disclose the degree of “imagined identity” that emerges from an on-going productive dialogue with the “other within oneself.” It should not be possible to read nineteenth-century British literature without remembering that imperialism, understood as England’s social mission, was a crucial part of the cultural representation of England to the English. The role of literature in the production of cultural representation should not be ignored. These two obvious ‘facts’ continue to be disregarded in the reading of nineteenth-century British literature. This itself attests to the continuing process of the imperialist project, displaced and dispersed into more modern forms.1 2025-07-20T07:15:31Z 2025-07-20T07:15:31Z 2016 Thesis https://repository.auw.edu.bd/handle/123456789/584 en application/pdf AUW |
| spellingShingle | PIERINI, FRANCESCA ANGLO-AMERICAN NARRATIVES OF ITALIAN OTHERNESS AND THE POLITICS OF ORIENTALIZING SOUTHERN EUROPE |
| title | ANGLO-AMERICAN NARRATIVES OF ITALIAN OTHERNESS AND THE POLITICS OF ORIENTALIZING SOUTHERN EUROPE |
| title_full | ANGLO-AMERICAN NARRATIVES OF ITALIAN OTHERNESS AND THE POLITICS OF ORIENTALIZING SOUTHERN EUROPE |
| title_fullStr | ANGLO-AMERICAN NARRATIVES OF ITALIAN OTHERNESS AND THE POLITICS OF ORIENTALIZING SOUTHERN EUROPE |
| title_full_unstemmed | ANGLO-AMERICAN NARRATIVES OF ITALIAN OTHERNESS AND THE POLITICS OF ORIENTALIZING SOUTHERN EUROPE |
| title_short | ANGLO-AMERICAN NARRATIVES OF ITALIAN OTHERNESS AND THE POLITICS OF ORIENTALIZING SOUTHERN EUROPE |
| title_sort | anglo american narratives of italian otherness and the politics of orientalizing southern europe |
| url | https://repository.auw.edu.bd/handle/123456789/584 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT pierinifrancesca angloamericannarrativesofitalianothernessandthepoliticsoforientalizingsoutherneurope |