To date, Mary Shelley’s copious production of tales, numbering over twenty titles, is barely studied or appreciated. Just like (to a slightly lesser extent) Shelley’s other novels, the tales have been eclipsed by Frankenstein’s extraordinary and undying success. My essay intends to look at two stories set in Tuscany at the time of the struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines, which were published ten years apart from each other: "A Tale of the Passions" (1823) and "The Brother and Sister, an Italian Story" (1833). Referring, occasionally, to other works by Shelley, to her letters and journals and to pieces published in «The Liberal» (the literary product of the so-called “Pisan Circle”), the essay investigates how the Tuscan Medieval setting provided fertile ground for the author to display her peculiar Anglo-Italianness and her profound political and gender awareness.
A tutt’oggi, la copiosa produzione di racconti di Mary Shelley, che conta più di venti prodotti, è scarsamente studiata e apprezzata, eclissata (come del resto, in misura minore, anche gli altri suoi romanzi) dallo straordinario e imperituro successo di Frankenstein. Il saggio si propone di guardare a due racconti dell’autrice ambientati nella Toscana delle lotte tra Guelfi e Ghibellini e pubblicati a dieci anni di distanza l’uno dall’altro: "A Tale of the Passions "(1823) e "The Brother and Sister, an Italian Story" (1833). Facendo riferimento anche ad altre opere della Shelley, alle sue lettere e ai diari, e a lavori pubblicati sul «Liberal» (prodotto letterario del cosiddetto “Circolo Pisano”), si indagherà come lo scenario toscano medievale diventi per l’autrice terreno fertile per dispiegare la sua peculiare anglo-italianità e la sua profonda consapevolezza politica e di genere.
'The most civilized district of Italy': Mary Shelley’s Tuscan Tales Between History, Literary Echoes and Politics
Nicoletta Caputo
2022-01-01
Abstract
To date, Mary Shelley’s copious production of tales, numbering over twenty titles, is barely studied or appreciated. Just like (to a slightly lesser extent) Shelley’s other novels, the tales have been eclipsed by Frankenstein’s extraordinary and undying success. My essay intends to look at two stories set in Tuscany at the time of the struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines, which were published ten years apart from each other: "A Tale of the Passions" (1823) and "The Brother and Sister, an Italian Story" (1833). Referring, occasionally, to other works by Shelley, to her letters and journals and to pieces published in «The Liberal» (the literary product of the so-called “Pisan Circle”), the essay investigates how the Tuscan Medieval setting provided fertile ground for the author to display her peculiar Anglo-Italianness and her profound political and gender awareness.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
