2023 / 28 Prospero. Rivista di letterature e culture straniere

Prospero. Rivista di letterature e culture straniere è una rivista annuale a stampa e online ad accesso aperto del Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici dell’Università di Trieste (DiSU), pubblicata dal 1994 presso la casa editrice EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste. È apparsa in precedenza con il complemento di titolo Rivista di letterature e civiltà Anglo-germaniche e, dal 2005 al 2011, con quello di Rivista di Letterature straniere, Comparatistica e Studi culturali. La rivista pubblica contributi originali dedicati alle letterature di lingua inglese, tedesca e francese. Prospero ospita contributi inediti di studiosi italiani e stranieri che pongono il testo letterario e l’analisi testuale al centro di più ampie riflessioni di carattere ermeneutico, filologico e storico-culturale. In particolare, si apre alle convergenze di carattere interdisciplinare e transdisciplinare tra la letteratura e gli altri saperi. Numeri monografici curati da guest editors italiani e stranieri su temi specifici si alternano a numeri miscellanei.

In the long shadow of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, Franz Grillparzer’s debut drama Die Ahnfrau (1817) operates with motifs from contemporary popular literature. The uncanny, the criminal and the sexual, robbers and ghosts are brought together by the drama against the background of their contemporary political codes in a suspenseful fusion. The expressive dramatic language of the Ahnfrau takes up linguistic topoi of Gothic literature and organizes them into a language that privileges the semiotic over the symbolic.

The influence of the English writer and critic Walter Pater (1839-1984) on Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1929) has occasionally been noted and discussed. The focus is usually on the figure of the critic Walter Pater and his understanding of art and works of art. Hofmannsthal felt a spiritual kinship with Pater and referred to the English critic and art theorist in several articles and essays. My article is less concerned with the similarities and differences between Walter Pater and Hofmannsthal in their understanding of art and theory of art, but rather with the impetus that Walter Pater gave to Hofmannsthal’s turn to the Renaissance and to Hofmannsthal’s development of Renaissancism. In fact, Hofmannsthal’s approach to the Renaissance is closer to Pater’s than to the theories of Jacob Burckhardt or Friedrich Nietzsche. In particular, it is the specific notion of beauty in art that Pater sees realized in the Renaissance, which appeals to the aesthetes and symbolists of the fin de siècle and which also becomes the starting point for Hofmannsthal’s reflections and writings. This enduring influence of Pater will be explained by analyzing Hofmannsthal’s Renaissance dramas “Gestern” and “Der Tod des Tizian”. This is a paradigm shift in that the dominant image of the Renaissance up to or before Pater was that of men of power and violence – including hedonism, self-indulgence, libido, corruption, tyranny. With Pater and his studies of the Renaissance – also reinforced by the painting of the Pre-Raphaelites – a more sensitive conception, based entirely on beauty, creativity and refinement, prevailed and would come to define Hofmannsthal’s Renaissance dramas.

The Romantic period is defined by the idea of revolution. In 1816, Percy Shelley wrote that the French Revolution of 1789 was still “ the master theme of the epoch in which we live”. The French Revolution, however, left its mark not only because it implanted republican ideals, it also created a fear of its anarchic and violent aftermath. No literary genre captures the hopes and fears associated with the idea of revolution better than the Gothic genre. Charles Robert Maturin’s 1820 novel Melmoth the Wanderer captures this atmosphere perfectly. One of the earliest works of the Irish Gothic, the novel reflects both the appeal of the revolution and the conservative fear and resistance to fundamental change associated with it. The ambiguity and oscillating quality of the novel creates a feverish claustrophobia. I will apply Mikhail Bakhtin theory of the carnivalesque to explore the very modern quality of the text. Maturin’s novel illustrates the tensions inherent in the Romantic period, and I use Bakhtin’s theory to describe this tension as an attempt to describe the crisis of the traditional social order.

Romanticism is intrinsically associated with the exploration of diverse cultures through travel, particularly evident in the Grand Tours of Europe, which contributed to the establishment of transcultural networks. However, not always did the outcomes of such encounters foster a cohesive European spirit. Paradoxically, they often served to confirm or reinforce prejudices or stereotypes concerning foreign nations and their cultures. Of specific interest is the nuanced reception of Germany by British Romantics, revealing ambivalence and skepticism. This article focuses on Lord Byron, aiming to elucidate instances of his wavering between Germanophilia and Germanophobia within his writings. First, it will analyse the poet’s conceptualizations of Germany, which emerge from both his imaginative constructs and direct experiences with the country. Secondly, it will investigate Byron’s complex reception and assessment of German literature, with particular attention to his opinions on the Schlegel brothers and Goethe. Ultimately, the analysis will show how, within Byron’s mental and literary figurations, Germany, encompassing its geography and cultural expressions, unfolds as a multifaceted and elusive entity rather than a distinctly definable construct.