I am very grateful to fellow list members for putting me right on several
counts concerning my speculative thoughts about the supposed 'belatedness'
of the Italian novel.
I found Antonio Pagliaro's critique of my use of the metaphor of
'literary space' particularly thought provoking and I concede that it
does imply some sort of zero-sum relationship between genres and their
popularity or otherwise. Concerning his fruitfully provocative question:
'Why did the novella fail to flourish in England?' Perhaps the answer is
to be found in the fact that in Italy there was an authoritative model in
Boccaccio, whereas we lacked a corresponding one in England. It was also
useful to be reminded of the intellectual and programmatic approach of
Italian novelists - Sir Walter Scott's heroes and heroines were never
burdened with the broader significance Manzoni conferred on his. I am
starting to read Michael McKeon's THE ORIGINS OF THE ENGLISH NOVEL,
(Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987) which might shed light on this
issue.
Judy Rawson's point (if I have understood her correctly) about hagiography
as having fed into the genre of the novel rather than having been
displaced by the latter was also very stimulating.
I am also grateful to Paul Diffley for having drawn my attention to a
recent chapter in the literary fortuna of St Jerome and for his thoughts
about the late emergence of the Italian novel and about the role played in
this by the dominance of poetic forms and the overall greater development of
thoughts about what was and what was not permissable or appropriate in
literary expression. Paul, when you say 'there were loads of 17C
[novels]... often mythological and/or historical' are you including in
this the 'Romanzo' such as Rinuccini's IL CAPPUCCINO SCOZZESE?
Finally, I draw your attention to Brian Maloney's observation that
hagiography as a literary style is alive and well in the publication of
numerous titles in the '800 which have patriotic heroes as their subject
and were possibly responsible for the fact that the Risorgimento novel
never gets written!
Basically, in my short article I am trying to problematize the tendency of
associating hagiography wholly or even essentially with the middle ages
(viz. the entry in the NEW OXFORD COMPANION TO LITERATURE IN FRENCH where
the entry on the subject is simply: 'hagiography (medieval)')!! Your
comments have helped me think this through with greater clarity.
Thanks again to everyone
Simon
Simon Ditchfield
Department of History
UNIVERSITY OF YORK
York YO10 5DD
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|