Description
Book SynopsisCrossing borders – both physically and imaginatively – is part of our ‘nomadic’ postmodern identity, but transcultural and transnational exchanges have also played a major role in the centuries-long processes of hybridisation that helped to fashion the vast geographic, political and imaginative container of diversity we call Europe. This volume gathers together the work of scholars from several European countries in an attempt to encourage a collective reflection upon historical – and often ‘mythical’ – locations and landscapes, as well as upon the thresholds and faultlines that unite or separate them. The issues the volume tackles are delicate and complex, for the encounter of differences engenders both curiosity and suspicion and there is no easy way to create a new synthesis while respecting and promoting diversity. However, since Europe is inevitably a cultural and political entity ‘in the making’, Europeans should embrace the ‘great narrative’ of a ‘utopian project’, uniting their efforts to work towards a civilisation that is grounded on plurality and openness.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Maurizio ASCARI and Adriana CORRADO: Introduction 1. The Grand Tour and the Mediterranean Manfred PFISTER: Travelling in the Traces of…Italian Spaces and the Traces of the Other Edward CHANEY: Egypt in England and America: The Cultural Memorials of Religion, Royalty and Revolution Marino NIOLA: The Invention of the Mediterranean Alvio PATIERNO: Vesuvius for Everyone in 19th Century France Paola PAUMGARDHEN: Goethe and Von Archenholz in Naples in 1787: Views of the City between Myth and Reality Adriana CORRADO: Glances at Naples, Centre of Campania Felix: First Step towards a Complex Cultural Theme 2. Water and Cultural Memory David SKILTON: Water and Memory David SKILTON: Ruin and the Loss of Empire: From Venice and New Zealand to the Thames Eleonora FEDERICI: Rose Macaulay’s Fabled Shore: Driving through Cities and Landscapes Franca Zanelli QUARANTINI: Water, Mourning and the Quest for Origin in Irène Némirovsky’s Works Olga BINCZYK: The Modern Voyage: In Search of Identity in the Light of Selected Works of English Writers of the 1930s 3. Literature and Cityscapes Monica SPIRIDON: The City of Texts Susan BASSNETT: Seismic Aftershocks: Responses to the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 Katia PIZZI: Sites of Exchange and Topographies of Memory at the Northeastern Borders of Italy Monica SPIRIDON: Memories of a Post-Metropolis: “Torre e Tasso” across the Atlantic Peter VASSALLO: Valletta (meta)fictionalised historiographically in Thomas Pynchon’s V 4. Borders and Conflicts Maurizio ASCARI: Borders, Frontiers and Boundaries Maurizio ASCARI: Shifting Borders: The Lure of Italy and the Orient in the Writings of 18th and 19th Century British travellers Graham DAWSON: The ‘Ulster’-Irish Border, Protestant Imaginative Geography and Cultural Memory in the Irish Troubles Jola ŠKULJ: Cultural Spaces in Border Territories Paola VILLANI: The Redemption of the Siren Dianna PICKENS: Captive Naples Adriana CORRADO: Concluding Remarks Notes on Contributors
