| Darkest Italy: The Nation and Stereotypes of the Mezzogiorno, 1860-1900 1999 Edition Contributor(s): Na, Na (Author) |
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ISBN: 0312221681 ISBN-13: 9780312221683 Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan OUR PRICE: $52.24 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: September 1999 Annotation: Stereotypical representations of the Mezzogiorno are a persistent feature of Italian culture at all levels. In "Darkest Italy," John Dickie analyzes these stereotypes in the post-Unification period, when the Mezzogiorno was widely seen as barbaric, violent or irrational, an "Africa" on the European continent. At the same time, this is the moment when the Mezzogiorno became a metaphor for the state of the country as a whole, the index of Italy' s modernity. Dickie argues that these stereotypes, rather than being a symptom of the failings of national identity in Italy, were actually integral to the way Italy' s bourgeoisie imagined themselves as Italian. Drawing on recent theories of Otherness and national identity, Dickie brings a new light to an important and well-established area of Italian history--the relationship between the South and the nation as a whole. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Europe - Italy - History | Modern - General |
| Dewey: 945.7 |
| LCCN: 99023083 |
| Physical Information: 0.81" H x 5.7" W x 8.64" (0.84 lbs) 209 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Italy - Ethnic Orientation - Italian |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Stereotypical representations of the Mezzogiorno are a persistent feature of Italian culture at all levels. In Darkest Italy, John Dickie analyzes these stereotypes in the post-Unification period, when the Mezzogiorno was widely seen as barbaric, violent or irrational, an "Africa" on the European continent. At the same time, this is the moment when the Mezzogiorno became a metaphor for the state of the country as a whole, the index of Italy s modernity. Dickie argues that these stereotypes, rather than being a symptom of the failings of national identity in Italy, were actually integral to the way Italy s bourgeoisie imagined themselves as Italian. Drawing on recent theories of Otherness and national identity, Dickie brings a new light to an important and well-established area of Italian history - the relationship between the South and the nation as a whole. |