Performing national identity : Anglo-Italian cultural transactions / edited by Manfred Pfister and Ralf Hertel.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Hertel, Ralf, 1973-

Pfister, Manfred.

Series:

Internationale Forschungen zur allgemeinen und vergleichenden Literaturwissenschaft ; 114.

Internationale Forschungen zur allgemeinen und vergleichenden Literaturwissenschaft, 0929-6999 ; 114

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cross-cultural studies--England.

Cross-cultural studies.

Cross-cultural studies--Italy.

Cultural relations.

National characteristics, English--Cross-cultural studies.

National characteristics, English.

National characteristics, Italian--Cross-cultural studies.

National characteristics, Italian.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (329 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; New York, NY : Rodopi, 2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

National identity is not some naturally given or metaphysically sanctioned racial or territorial essence that only needs to be conceptualised or spelt out in discursive texts; it emerges from, takes shape in, and is constantly defined and redefined in individual and collective performances. It is in performances—ranging from the scenarios of everyday interactions to ‘cultural performances’ such as pageants, festivals, political manifestations or sports, to the artistic performances of music, dance, theatre, literature, the visual and culinary arts and more recent media—that cultural identity and a sense of nationhood are fashioned. National identity is not an essence one is born with but something acquired in and through performances. Particularly important here are intercultural performances and transactions, and that not only in a colonial and postcolonial dimension, where such performative aspects have already been considered, but also in inner-European transactions. ‘Englishness’ or ‘Britishness’ and Italianità, the subject of this anthology, are staged both within each culture and, more importantly, in joint performances of difference across cultural borders. Performing difference highlights differences that ‘make a difference’; it ‘draws a line’ between self and other—boundary lines that are, however, constantly being redrawn and renegotiated, and remain instable and shifting.

Contents:

Preliminary Material

Performing National Identity / Manfred Pfister

‘Stripping up his sleeves like some juggler’: Giordano Bruno in England, or, The Philosopher as Stylistic Mountebank / Werner von Koppenfels

‘Mine Italian brain ’gan in your duller Britain operate most vilely’: Cymbeline and the Deconstruction of Anglo-Italian Differences / Ralf Hertel

Inigo Jones and the Reform of Italian Art / John Peacock

‘Made in Italy’: Sculpture and the Staging of National Identities at the International Exhibition of 1862 / Alison Yarrington

Italianised Byron—Byronised Italy / Barbara Schaff

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Italian Poetry: Constructing National Identity and Shaping the Poetic Self / Fabienne Moine

The ‘Bella Italiana’ and the ‘English Rose’: Reflections on Two National Typologies of Feminine Beauty / Stephen Gundle

Sex, Lies, and Celluloid: That Hamilton Woman and British Attitudes towards the Italians from the Risorgimento to the Second World War / Pamela Neville-Sington

Italian Culture versus British Pragmatics: The Maltese Scenario / Peter Vassallo

Gramsci’s Notion of the ‘Popular’ in Italy and Britain: A Tale of Two Cultures / David Forgacs

Personal Memory / Cultural Memory: Identity and Difference in Scottish-Italian Migrant Theatre / Carla Dente

The Theatre of the World: British-Italian Identities on the Tourism Stage / Claudio Visentin

Bias and Stereotypes in the Media: The Performance of British and Italian National Identities / Judith Munat

Re-locating Shakespeare: Cultural Negotiations in Italian Dubbed Versions of Romeo and Juliet / Sara Soncini

Something to Declare: Italian Avengers and British Culture in La ragazza con la pistola and Appuntamento a Liverpool / Mariangela Tempera

English Fans and Italian Football: Towards a Transnational Relationship / Anthony King

Selling England (and Italy) by the Pound: Performing National Identity in the First Phase of Progressive Rock: Jethro Tull, King Crimson, and PFM / Greg Walker

Zuppa Inglese and Eating Up Italy: Intercultural Feasts and Fantasies / Gisela Ecker

Notes on Contributors.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

94-012-0523-X

1-4356-1544-1

OCLC:

191957105

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789401205238 DOI