Other and otherness in literature, Appunti di Letteratura Inglese

Scarica Other and otherness in literature e più Appunti in PDF di Letteratura Inglese solo su Docsity! LETTERATURA INGLESE II OTHER/ OTHERNESS IN LITERATURE Meaning: - the quality or state of existence of being/ feeling other (different) from established norms, codes and social groups. Ex: Ulysses- Tennyson - societal othering according to prescribed concept of normality. Ex: Christabel/ Geraldine- Coleridge and Robert/Wringhim - Hogg From a ethnic-racial-cultural point of view: Distinetion that one makes between one's self and others in therms of class, gender, racial and ethnic difference. Ex: Prospero vs Caliban and Ariel- Shakespeare Dracula vs western characters- Stoker Indians vs English people- Forster The English vs the Irish- Friel The British Empire in the 19208 Ireland 1171: Henry IT’s invasion and overlordship of the The Pale — area north from Dublin; then plantations in the 16th century «15th and 16th centuries: North America and India (blackness as a climactic consequence, a curse or ‘infection’ or exotic curiosity — “Black- Moors” in court performances or other entertainments) eThough the court ruled “that England was too Pure an Air for Slaves to breathe in”, England was involved in the tragic Middle Passage (slave trade abolished only in 1807) «18th and 19th centuries: Africa, Australia, West Indies Decolonization I. 1775-1783 Loss of the American colonies II. End 19th-beginning 20th century Creation of "dominions" (self- government given to Canada, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa) — 1931 Independence from the Crown III. Post WW2 decolonisation: independence of South Asia (1947 India), Africa (50s and 60s) and the Caribbean (from 1948 voyage of the liner Empire Windrush from Jamaica to London to 1960s independence movements) THE AUTRE AND THE GRAND-AUTRE In a psychological and psychoanalytic point of view, Lacan talks about “Autre and Grand-Autre”. The autre signifies that which is “not really other” but it's a projection of the ego, of the subject’s desire, fear, etc. onto something or someone else (e.g. a body on a magazine cover; a loved person ...). We understand and know ourselves when we know our ‘Autre’. Symbols: the mirror image and the shadow (identification and alienation) — characters in Coleridge and Hogg The grand-Autre signifies an alterity irreducible to any imaginary or subjective identification (law, religion, society, other people, Super-ego, that affect the subject’s identity) — e.g. Ulysses and Robert Wringhim in Hogg's novel e There is a common dialect between the “self” and the “other”, or “I” and “not-I”, which has a long history in European thought. * “Othering” and “Colonialism” often go hand-in-hand —> however, discourse of the other was not merely the intellectual arm of imperialism in the modern period in Western Europe. Although, it played a central role in the process of self-definition, considering that notions of identity and alterity of “us” and “them” are linked to the sense of place, that are the “here” and “there” notions. —> BUT —>identity is not defined by a single “here” or a simple “here\there” dichotomy, rather IDENTITY IS an entire archipelago of places, with one engages in discursive relationships of inclusion and exclusion, attraction and repulsion, acceptance and rejection. Roland (Dramatic irony) Throughout the play, the British soldiers for whom Owen work call him "Roland," which is a mistake. While the audience knows his name is Owen, the soldiers get it wrong every time, which shows their disrespect for him. Owen's translations (Dramatic Irony) When Yolland and Lancey visit the hedge-school, Owen translates their statements for them, but takes many liberties in his translation. We the audience can hear that he is changing the wording of Lancey's speech, but Lancey, who does not speak Gaelic, has no idea, which creates some comic dramatic irony. Owen and Yolland defend each other's positions (Situational Irony) One of the central ironies of the play is the fact that Owen, a native of the village who seems like he ought to be more invested in the preservation of its traditions, is the most eager to "standardize" the language for English- speakers. On the flip side, the Englishman Yolland is invested in the Irish language, and sees the project of the Red Coats as "an eviction of sorts." Both of these men are, in a way, "disloyal" to their respective countries, with Owen taking a more English point of view, the perspective of the colonizer, and Yolland empathizing with the Irish, the colonized. Maire and Yolland (Dramatic Irony) Maire and Yolland strike up a mutual affection, and in Act 2, Scene 1, they find themselves alone after the dance, trying desperately to communicate even though they do not speak the same language. Even though, to the audience's ears, they both speak English, Maire is in fact speaking Gaelic. Thus, the audience hears the meaning of what each of them is trying to say, but they themselves have no idea what the other is saying, which creates a rather comic and romantic instance of dramatic irony. - Language: as communication and translation. Language is an act of translation from throught to words and from a culture to another. TRANSLATION PROPER - Hugh's classes translate from latin/ greek into Irish. - Owen translates from Irish into english and viceversa (because english don’t understand Irish and viceversa). - Mapping: translation of gaelic names into english meaningless names. FIGURES OF OTHERNESS - the two English men (Lancy and Yolland) within the gaelic community - Maire in the village, desperate to go to America. She actually acquires english for her own benefits - Jimmy Jack escapes from the present through his reading of classical poetry. - Hug's alienation —> alcohol addiction - No idealization of rural Ireland OWEN: he's a very important character. The only one who's not troubled by the presence of the english. He's insider /outsider, local/global, national/transitional and he's the most complex figure in the play. Fond (“affezionato”) of his roots (“radici”); he believes in his role as translator/ mediator, until he discovers the truth about the British Army corps re- mapping City man who lives in modern anglicised Dublin. Through Yolland (who falls in love with Ireland and Mane) he reappreciates his ancestral cultural heritage (“patrimonio”). Military and cultural imperialism—> english VS provincial patriotism —> Manus: rejection of english otherness and self-closure. Pessimistic play: according to Deane, the failure of language to accommodate (“accogliere”) experience, the failure of a name to indicate a place, the failure of lovers to find the opportunity to express their feeling, are all products of this political confrontation (between Ireland and England; English imperialism and Irish nationalism). THE LANGUAGE QUESTION Ever since colonial Times English tried to ruin Irish identity by attacking Irish culture. Stereotype of english (cold, refined and urban face) as “Victorian Englishman” and Irish (hot-headed, rude and garrulous) as “Vulgar paddy”. In their postcolonial responses to these stereotypes they have the desire some to reclaim their native language of Gaelic has created what has become known as the LANGUAGE QUESTION—> they want to return to postcolonial times celebrating their culture before the annual of Imperialism obviously. At the beginning of Friel’s Translations we have the elder son of the teacher, Manus, who's trying to teach to a student, Sarah, her name because she can't speak. Sarah stands for a people’s loss of tongue and name. —> her position symbolises victims of imperialism who lose their language and their identity. Manus is against the English because naming implies ownership, a literal possession and control to the English by translating these places- names into a tongue that the habitants cannot understand means that the Irish are foreigners like Sarah, cannot speak their names. The English call Owen “Roland” so they change also his name until one time Roland explodes and realises that the names are important after all he understands. enjoyed all these experiences as a sailor and he has faced a lot of challenges, symbol of that is the sea. When he says I am become a name he considers himself as a symbol for anyone who wonders. Moreover Victorian people were not afraid of the future, in fact they wish they could know more, and that is expressed by Ulysses when he talks about all the things that he has seen while traveling: Much have I seen and known; cities of men and manners, climax, councils, governments, myself not least, but honored of them all. Moreover he thinks that experience is what makes you who you are (I am a part of all that I have met). Finally, he wants to underline the importance of traveling and making experiences, for him remaining stationary is to rust rather than to shine (to rust unburnished, not the shine in use!), and staying in one place is to pretend that in life there’s nothing but the simple act of breathing (as though to breathe were life). Another Victorian trait is the faith in science and progress, in fact he refers to a scientist as a bringer of new things. Then Ulysses introduces his son Telemachus, who embodies the typical Victorian man, and stands for a more uneventful life, devoted to responsibilities and social duties, unlike his father who is active, adventurous and rich in imagination. Due to these very different characters, we can notice a contradiction of the Victorian frame of mind, which is then resolved with compromise. Telemachus, faithful to religion and the authority of the church, will rule the island. In the last stanza, Ulysses addresses his mates, that's to say the old mariners. He recognizes their old age, and in his opinion even when you die, if you lived your life truly, you leave a good message to the next generation. Ulysses encourages the mariners to make use of their old age (Tis not too late to seek a newer world), and says that they can still do something noble and honorable before the long day wanes, because although they are not as strong as they were in their youth they are strong in will. MYTH OF ULYSSES Published in “Poems”, has three parts and the narration is at the first person. 1) IN THE FIRST PART: Ulysses talks about his intention to abandon Itaca to follow the borders of the world. 2) IN THE CENTRAL PART: we have his son Thelemacus who has to be the wise king in Itaca. 3) IN THE LAST PART: we have the announcement of the departure of Ulysses who tells his friends to go with him in that adventures. In Rizzardi’s essay “Ulysses like the Victorian heroe”. It talks about two sources: Homer and Dante. 10 In Homer”’s Odyssey it talks about the last travel of Ulysses and in Dante’s Inferno it talks about the details of this last travel and adventure. This travel represents also Tennyson’s travel who tries to go on after his friend’s death, Hallam, but he knows that “death closes all”. Stanford comments the image of Ulysses and talks about a hero of a new age of scientific optimism and colonial expansion. Ulysses is caught in the moment of the Victorian hero CRISIS: he doesn't want to rule a savage population (British). A population that has filled its lands with wonders and known no “colonne d’Ercole”. A population that loves to live in the industrial age with Reform Bills, english colonial affirmation. The Victorian Age was a disharmonious and inhomogeneous era: the population has doubts, has nostalgia for the past and dream the imperialism. They believe in progress but they deny the original sin. They live their life like a struggle between good and evil. Tennyson was able to describe, through the remodelling of the Homeric hero, the solid system of value of the Empire. Facing to the vanity of the political- economic supremacy, the continuous senseless transformation, the only defence is “to strike, to seek, to find and not to yeld”. Telemaco incarna l’eroe vittoriano in quanto è colui che deve portare avanti la criticità dell'impero, la sua potenza ecc. Non fa come Ulisse che vuole seguire la sua sete di conoscenza ma egli (Telemaco) rimane a Itaca a guidare il suo popolo e quindi a governare. The first difference between Homer Ulysses and Tennyson’s Ulysses is that in the first Ulysses doesn't only travel at sea but he also meets in the land several people who don't the existence of the sea. The second is Dante’s Inferno. After the war of Troy, Ulysses doesn't return home. In Dante’s passage Ulysses is one of the bloody and he is collocated in the Inferno for politics and morals reasons. Ulysses feels himself like an “another” and he’s who he is now thanks to the experiences lived with the other. His understanding is possible thanks to experiences lived with something or someone distant to him and different. 11 FORSTER’S A PASSAGE TO INDIA - 1924 LIFE Edward Morgan Forster was born in London in 1879 and died in 1970. He was an English fiction writer, essayist and librettist. Many of his novels examine class difference and hypocrisy. His father died of tuberculosis when Forster was not yet two years old, then he was surrounded from an early age almost exclusively by female relatives (his mother and her three younger sisters, his maternal grandmother, his great-aunt and her niece). He wrote Maurice, a novel which reflected his own homosexuality, it was not published until the year after Forster’s death (1971). Forster travelled twice to India in 1912 and 1921, his trips helped him begin and complete A Passage to India, which was an important early document of post-colonialism. A Passage to India brought him his greatest success. —> modernist novel and psychological novel HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The British colonisation in India began in the 16th century and it was under Elizabeth I (East India Company). Thanks to the fact that Elizabeth's reign saw many brave voyages of discovery, these expeditions prepared England for an age of colonisation and trade expansion, which Elizabeth herself recognised by establishing the East India Company in at the very end of 1599. France lost his control in India in the first half of the 18th century thanks to the growing power of the British East India Company. 1835: English education in British India —> the english was the medium instruction and the language of Indian law courts. British used the educational system to create an indigenous elite of civil servants to help them administer the country. 1857-58: the Sepoy “Mutiny” Great Rebellion (native troops employed by the British East India Company). 1876-77: Queen Victoria declared Empress of India; universities at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay are founded. A period of technological growth and socio-religious reforms. But this led to racist policies, economic exploitation, and suppression of native Indian people's rights. Late 19th century: socio-political ferment stimulated by campaigns of the native press, mass meetings, and secret political organizations. Indian nationalist sentiment began to threaten the British position in India. 12 become friends. Aziz is surprised that an english person would treat him like a friend. PARTY Mr. Turton, the man who governs Chandrapore, organises a party so that Adela and Mrs Moore have the opportunity to meet some of the more wealthy Indians in the city. At the party, Adela meets Cyril Fielding, the principale of the governement college in Chandrapore. Fielding, impressed by Adela's kindness to the Indians, invited her and Mrs Moore to tea with him and the professor Godbole. Fielding invites Aziz too. FIELDING’S TEA PARTY Aziz and Fielding immediatly become friends, and the afternoon is pleasant until Ronny arrives and interrupt the party. Later that evening, Adela tells Ronny that she had decided to don't marry him. But that night, the two have a car accident together and the event makes Adela change her mind about the marriage. Aziz organises an expedition to the Marabar caves. Fielding and Professos Godbole miss the train. MARABAR CAVES Inside one of the caves Mrs. Moore doesn't feel well because they are in the enclosed space. Aziz, Adela and a guide go to the upper caves while Mrs. Moore waits below. ADELA’S ILLUSION Aziz helps her. Adela realizes that she doesn't love Ronny and she asks Aziz if he has more than one wife and he considers this question offensive. Aziz enters a cave and when he returned, Adela is gone. Aziz Finds Adela's broken glasses and later he finds Fielding waiting for him. Aziz learns that Adela has taken a car back to Chandrapore. AZIZ’S ARREST AND MOORE MISTERY Once back in Chandrapore, Aziz was arrested because Adela accused him of raping her in the caves. Fielding belives in Aziz and he joins the Indians in Aziz's defense. In the weeks before the trial, the racial tensions between the Indians and the English grow. Ronny is fed up with Mrs.Moore's lack of support for Adela and he decides that Mrs.Moore will return to England. Mrs. Moore dies during the voyage but before she realizes that isn't "real India", but a different Indias. TRIAL SCENE At Aziz's trial, Adela says that she has made a mistake: Aziz isn't the person or thing that attacked her in the cave so he is set free. Fielding begins to respect Adela, recognizing her bravery in pronuncing Aziz’s innocence. 15 THE CONSEQUENCE Ronny breaks off his engagement to Adela and she returns to England. Aziz, however, is angry that Fielding would help Adela after she nearly ruined. Aziz's life, and friendship, between the two men suffers as a consequence. Then Fielding goes to England for a visit. Aziz decides to move to a place where he will haven't to encounter the English anymore. AT MAU Two years later, Fielding returns to India. His wife is Stella, Mrs. Moore’s daughter from a second marriage. Aziz has become the chief doctor to the Rajah of Mau, a Hindu region of Chandrapore. One day, walking through an old temple with his three children, he encounters Fielding and his brother- in- law. After he accidentally runs his boat into Fielding's, they become friends again. In the novel's last sentences, he explains that he and Fielding cannot be friends until India is free of the British control. KEY EPISODES IN THE PLOT * Story revolving around four main characters: Dr. Aziz, his British friend Mr. Cyril Fielding, principal of the College for Indians, Mrs. Moore, and Miss Adela Quested * Adela Quested, Mrs. Moore visit Chandrapore, whose city magistrate is Ronny Heaslop, Mrs. Moore’ son and Adela’s future husband * Mrs Moore meets Dr Aziz inside a mosque and they become friends e Women's desire to know the “real India” — Miss “Quested” * Key-episode 1: “Bridge Party” — failure * Key-episode 2: Fielding's tea party — half-failure. Ronny's interruption * Key-episode 3: trip to the Marabar Caves. Weird echo. Mysterious incident involving Adela. Aziz accused of sexual harassment e Key-episode 4: Aziz's trial bringing to the fore all the racial tensions between Indian subjects and British rulers (except for Fielding) * Aziz’s and Fielding's separation and final reunion THE MARABAR CAVES The Marabar Caves have a central role in the development of the novel and the two female characters, Mrs. Moore and Adela Quested, have traumatic 16 experiences inside them. Mrs. Moore experiences a terrifying sense of emptiness and then looses the will to go on living and Adela suffers a nervous crisis. These events symbolize the impossibility for western people to stand the impact of Indian civilization, full of mystery and spiritualism. The other visitors cannot fully interpret the meaning of the caves or even whether or not they are an interesting experience or a dull one. The caves serve as a physical manifestation of the events surrounding them. For Adela and Mrs. Moore the transforming experiences comes in the form of n "echo"and haunts them in the weeks to come. It causes Mrs. Moore to abandon her beliefs and cease to care about human relationships. Adela, however, ultimately escapes the echo by using its message of impersonality to help her realize Aziz's innocence. The idea of "muddle" by Forster is made to create a distinction between the ideas of "muddle" and "mystery". Muddle has connotations of dangerous and disorienting disorder, whereas mystery suggests a mystical, orderly plan by a spiritual force that is greater than man. Fielding, who acts as Forster's primary mouthpiece in the novel, admits that India is a muddle, while Mrs. Moore view India as a mystery. The muddle that India is appears to work from the ground up: the landscape and the architecture of the countryside is formless and the natural life of plants and animals defies identifications. The muddle also concerns the population, which is a mix of different religious, ethnic, linguistic, and regional groups. Forster's view of imperialism Though Forster is sympathetic to India and Indians in the novel, his overwhelming depiction (=rappresentazione) of India as a muddle matches the manner in which many writers of his days treated the East in their works. These authors made Western logic and capability appear self-evident and by extension, portrayed the West's domination of the East as reasonable or even necessary. The novel deals with a major event of the century, the British domination over India. Whereas previous novelists like Kipling had given an attractive and romantic picture of Imperial India, Forster recorded the moment of British India's transformation into a new country. The typical attitude of the British in India was that they were undertaking the "white man's burden". The non-cooperation movement and Gandhi wanted complete social equality between British and the Indians. Forster shared this view and criticized imperialistic policies of discrimination under which personal relationships were spoilt. The isolation of the British community at Chandrapore, the atrocities suffered by the Indians, the agitation of the natives, all these issues are present in the novel. 17 2. Antithesis — Caves — failure, darkness, lack of understanding, vacuum, muddle, death — heat - ECHO 3. Synthesis —- Temple — attempts at reunion, mystical unity, restoration of human values, rebirth — rain — SKY ... and yet ... no triumphaliste ending “PASSAGE” * It refers to the Suez Canal inaugurated in the 1869 that opened up a passage between occident and orient, Europe and Asia, a connection. “Passage to India” written in 1871 by Walt Whitman was a celebration of this connection. * In Forster: focus on the ‘passage’ itself * Passage as transition from absolute opposition to a more balanced situation * Passage from isolated ‘fragments’ to a vision of desirable totality and unity * Rite of passage, change .... with indefinite results * Passage from ‘muddle’ to ‘Îmystery’ which must be accepted 20 BRAM STOKERS’S DRACULA- 1897 LIFE Abraham Stoker was born in 1847 on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland and died in 1912, he was an Irish author. Stoker was the third of seven children. He had a difficult life since he was bedridden with an unknown illness until he started school at the age of seven, when he made a complete recovery. After his recovery, he grew up without further serious illnesses, even excelling as an athlete at Trinity College, Dublin, which he attended from 1864 to 1870. Stoker travelled the world, although he never visited Eastern Europe, a setting for his most famous novel. He also met one of his literary idols, Walt Whitman. Stoker visited the English coastal town of Whitby in 1890, and that visit was said to be part of the inspiration for Dracula. GOTHIC NOVEL Vampire literature in Britain: many authors wrote this literature. * Robert Southey, Thalaba the Destroyer (1797) * Lord Byron, The Giaour (1813) e John William Polidori, The Vampire (1819) * Stephanie Meyer, Twilight saga (2005-2008) PLOT The story is narrated with a DOCUMENTARY METHOD, to give a sense of reality and give the idea of the absence of the author’s thoughts. Jonathan Harker, a young English lawyer, travels to Castle Dracula in the Eastern European country of Transylvania to conclude a real estate transaction with a nobleman named Count Dracula. The local peasants warn him about his destination, giving him crucifixes and other charms against evil and uttering strange words that Harker later translates into “vampire.” Harker finds that Dracula is a well educated and hospitable gentleman. After only a few days, however, Harker realizes that he is a prisoner in the castle and “belongs to Dracula”. He realizes that the count possesses supernatural powers and diabolical ambitions. 21 One evening, Harker is nearly attacked by three beautiful and seductive female vampires, but the count staves them off, telling the vampires that Harker belongs to him. Fearing for his life, Harker attempts to escape from the castle by climbing down the walls. Meanwhile, in London, Harker”s fiancée, Mina Murray, stays with her friend Lucy. Dracula recognises Mina as the incarnation of her woman Elisabetta and he wants to seduct her “using” Lucy’s blood to maintain is youth. Lucy became pale and ill and a doctor tries to save and protect her with garlic (a traditional charm against vampires). Dracula “kiss her” and she becomes a vampire until a man kills her. Mina and Harker, now married, return to England. Mina helps Van Helsing collect the various diary and journal that Harker and others have written, trying to make a narrative that will lead them to Count Dracula. KIND OF NOVEL: * Horror/ supernatural story =aim of Dracula: it is to settle in England, to increase his power and extend his time. * Illusion of realism SEDUCTION: 1. Mina —> (half-contamined) 2. Lucy —> from a domestic woman to a femme fatale 3. HOMOEROTIC THEME because Dracula says “he belongs to me”, chap. III (= Jonathan) HISTORICAL BACKGROUND THE BRITAIN EMPIRE IN 1886 HOW THE LATE VICTORIANS SAW THE WORLD: * Centred on Britain and London—> isolation * Dominant Economy (Colonial Markets) * Pax Britannica (end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 — start of World War I in 1914): ‘Gunboat Policy’ (e.g. in the Opium Wars with China) * Colonization and conquest: inscribed in the laws of nature or even ordained by God * Self vs Other (White vs Black; civilized vs primitive) * The civilizing mission: organization, progress and development * Fear and anxiety over loss of power—> causes: loss of power of the British “global system”, rebellion and unrest in colonies like the Indian Rebellion (1857-58), new economic and industrial powers: Japan, Germany, the US. * Degradation — De-evolution — Involution (“going native”) 22 COLERIDGE’S CRISTABEL- 1816 LIFE Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born in Devonshire in 1772 and died in 1834 in London. He was the son of a clergyman, and his father died when he was 9 years old. He was interested in French revolutionary ideals and he became a republican. He had the influence of german philosophers and critics.In 1795 he met Wordsworth and with his sister Dorothy began the golden time of Coleridge's life, a period of intimate communication and poetic collaboration. He wrote Lyrical Ballads and also Christabel. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Early in 1798 Coleridge had again found himself preoccupied with political issues. The French Revolutionary government had suppressed the states of the Swiss Confederation, and Coleridge expressed his bitterness at this betrayal of the principles of the Revolution in a poem entitled “France: An Ode.” During the politically charged atmosphere of the late eighteenth century— the French Revolution had sent shockwaves through Europe, and England and France were at war—Coleridge made a name for himself both as a political radical and as an important young poet; along with his friends Robert Southey and William Wordsworth, he became one of the most important writers in England. CHRISTABEL Christabel is a long gothic ballad, planned to have 5 parts it is remained unfinished and fragmented in 4 pieces (two narratives parts) with a conclusion of each part. The poetry is incomplete because Christabel it is: because it represents the silence of the poet who is deeply concerned about nationality. Coleridge wrote Christabel using an accentual metrical system, based on the count of only accents: even though the number of syllables in each line can vary from four to twelve, the number of accents per line rarely deviates from four. Christabel lives with her dad in her father’s castle. She goes into the woods to pray at midnight for her fiancee (SUPERNATURAL and MYSTERIOUS TONE OF THIS DARK AND GOTHIC POEM): in fact in the late 18 th century the gothic was a movement that offered romantic writers the chance to speak of terrifying and supernatural experiences connected with ghosts or vampires (as in this poem). SUPERNATURAL: a metaphor to represent the idea present in the real. Christabel meets a girl “Geraldine” who at first seems to be an innocent girl but Christabel one night sees her evil part when Geraldine casts an evil spell on her (=getta in lei un incantesimo malvagio). 25 Here we can find other themes: the difference between GOOD (Christabel) and EVIL (Geraldine) An other theme introduced in the ballad is SEDUCTION. Geraldine tries to seduct Christabel physically and spiritually but she deducted her physically only. —> not spiritually because the morning after tells her father to drive Geraldine back home —> she's not an angelic woman, she's a femme fatale: a vampire and could represent two things for Christabel: 1. Reincarnation of her mother who is dead 2. Projection of her repressed erotic desire Before any confirmation of Geraldine identity the poem ends 3. Other theme: RELIGION, references to the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ but also Christabel mother who died at childbirth —> memory of the pastin this case. 4. LIGHT and DARK when the poem begins it's midnight and the moon is covered by clouds (dark, darkness —> evil) but when the light comes then things begin to change. OTHER is linked to exotic, gothic, supernatural, the unknown,... OTHERNESS: Geraldine is the dark side of Christabel. PLOT The story of Christabel concerns a central female character of the same name and her encounter with a stranger called Geraldine, who claims to have been abducted from her home by a band of rough (=grezzo) men. Christabel goes into the woods to pray by the large oak tree (=quercia), where she hears a strange noise. Upon looking behind the tree, she finds Geraldine who says that she had been abducted (=rapita) from her home by men on horseback (=a cavallo). Christabel pities (=prova pietà) her and takes her home with her. However, supernatural signs (a dog angrily moaning (=lamenta) despite being asleep, fading flames on torches suddenly reigniting (=fiamme che svaniscono sulle torce e improvvisamente si riaccendono), Geraldine being unable to cross an iron gate (=attraversare un cancello di ferro), denial of prayer (=negazione della preghiera)) seem to indicate that all is not well. They spend the night together, but while Geraldine undresses, she shows a terrible but undefined mark. Christabel's father, Sir Leoline, becomes enthralled (=affascinato) with Geraldine and orders a grand procession to announce her rescue. He ignores the weak objections (=obiezioni) of his daughter, who, although under enchantment (=anche se sotto incantesimo), is starting to realize the enormity of Geraldine's malign nature. The unfinished poem ends here. 26 SHAKESPEARE’S THE TEMPEST- 1611 LIFE Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, a small town in the middle of the English countryside. His father, John Shakespeare, was a glover and public servant with social ambitions. Shakespeare entered the world at a troubled time. In 1564 England was in the midst of an outbreak of plague. Owing to Spanish interruption of the cloth market as well as ongoing conflict between Protestants and Catholics, England also suffered economic hardship and religious upheaval. Despite these ongoing problems, John Shakespeare likely enrolled his son in the King's New School in Stratford at the age of 7. Shakespeare's studies, and particularly his study of the Latin poet Ovid, influenced him deeply. Shakespeare's schooling likely ended around age 15, when his father found himself in financial straits and required his eldest son’s help in the family glove-making business. He died in 1616. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND When Shakespeare began his writing career, Queen Elizabeth I had been on the throne for nearly thirty years, and by the time of her death in 1603 she had ruled over England and Ireland for forty-five years. She was a popular monarch, and her long reign helped establish England as a major European commercial and political power. After Queen Elizabeth died in 1603, King James VI of Scotland was named her successor, and he became King James I of England. His new subjects were relieved to avoid civil war and invasion. James I had the distinction of being the first monarch to rule both England and Scotland, and it was his greatest ambition to unify the two kingdoms into a single country, which he wanted to call Great Britain. James was unsuccessful in his efforts to unify Great Britain, but he achieved his second political goal in 1604 when he signed a treaty (=trattato) to end a nineteen-year period of conflict known as the Anglo-Spanish War. The Tempest (TRAGICOMEDY) was a romance play and tragic comedy written in 1611, it is the last work written by Shakespeare on his own. The play was published in the First collection in 1623 among the comedies (divided in tragedies, comedies and histories). Hybrid genre —> is a tragedy but with happy ending. 27 Prospero—> colonizer / Ariel and Caliban—> colonised CALIBAN asks for a “national” and “political” liberty Caliban’s wickedness (=malvagità) —> justification of colonisation He is a slave, he represents his darkness. ARIEL asks for personal liberty. She is associated to the air: a difference from Caliban. She represents lightness and magic for Prospero PROSPERO sees Caliban as an image of his dark inside A moment of self-revelation—>Caliban’s irrational and impulsive He searches freedom because he feels the sense of abandon. He wants revenge but at the end he becomes empathic and he lets everyone free. THEME OF COLONISATION Prospero as a coloniser and Caliban and Ariel as colonised. Through his work Shakespeare tries to give importance to the various explorations made in the 16 th century. 1960s- 1970s decolonisation movements in Africa, Caribbean and Latin America (Caliban tries to combat Prospero here). THEME OF METAMORPHOSES How the characters change. 30 HOGG’S THE PRIVATE MEMOIRS AND CONFESSIONS OF A JUSTIFIED SINNER -1824 LIFE James Hogg was born in Scotland in 1770 and died in 1835. He was a Scottish poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both Scots and English. As a young man he worked as a shepherd and farmhand, and was largely self-educated through reading. He was a friend of many of the great writers of his day, including Sir Walter Scott, of whom he later wrote an unauthorised biography. “The private memoirs and confessions of a justified sinner” is a novel published anymously in 1824. The first edition sold very poorly and the novel suffered from a period of critical neglect, especially in the nineteenth century. However, since the latter part of the twentieth century it has won greater critical interest and attention. The novel has been classified among many genres, including gothic novel, psychological, mystery, metafiction, satire and the study of totalitarian thought, it can also be thought of as an early example of modern crime fiction in which the story is told, for the most part, from the point of view of its criminal anti-hero. The action of the novel is located in an historically definable Scotland with accurately observed settings, and simultaneously implies a pseudo- Christian world of angels, devils, and demonic possession. The narrative is set against the antinomian societal structure flourishing in the borders of Scotland in Hogg's day. Many of the events of the novel are narrated twice; first by the ‘editor’, who gives his account of the facts as he understands them to be, and then in the words of the “sinner” himself. PLOT Editor’s narrative (1687): begins with the marriage of Rabina to George Colwan, Laird of Dalcastle. She has two children but one of them was George —>Laird’s son and the second one was Robert —> Wringhim's son —> extreme presbyterian (Rabina’s adviser and close confidant). GEORGE becomes a young popular man who loves sport and the company of his friends. ROBERT educated by his mother and Wringhim who tells him he is one of a group of elected people predestined to be saved by God. In Edinburgh Robert starts following George through the town, mocking and provoking him—> he has the ability of appearing wherever George is. 31 Finally, George is murdered by being stabbed in the back. The only witnesses to the murder were a prostitute and her despicable client, who claim that the culprit was Robert that disappears. NOW WE HAVE THE SECOND PART WITH THE SINNER'S WORDS: It consists of Robert's account of his life. A document half- written and half- printed which was found after his death. It tells about his childhood, under the influence of the Wringhim, and he becomes a “slave” of an enigmatic companion called Gil-Martin. This stranger, who could be seen to be seen as a Devil, appears after Wringhim has declared Robert to be a member of ‘the elect' and so predestined to eternal salvation (Robert obviously). Gil-Martin, who is able to transform his appearance, convinces Robert to have a mission of "cut sinners off with the sword", and that murder can be the correct course of action. Gil-Martin is increasing his domination over Roberts life. Finally, Robert loses control over his own identity and even loses track of time in his life. During these lost weeks and months, Gil-Martin assumes Robert's appearance to commit further crimes. There are suggestions in the text, that “Gil-Martin” is part of Robert's imagination, and he is simply an aspect of his own personality: as, for example when 'the sinner' writes, 'I feel as if I were the same person' (as Gil-Martin). The novel concludes with a return to the "Editor's Narrative' which explains how the sinner's memoir was discovered in his grave. Hogg appears as himselfin this section, expressing scorn (=disprezzo) of the project to open the grave. CIRCULAR TRIPTYC: 1. EDITOR NARRATIVE (18205) 2. CONFESSIONS OF A SINNER (LATE 17TH CENTURY) 3. EDITOR’S NARRATIVE (18205) An ambiguous novel ... “opera aperta” 1. Editor’s narrative — extradiegetic narrator * Representative of the enlightened Edinburgh, of modern rationalism and scientific enquiry * Detached, neutral, uncommitted tone * Tentativeness and unwillingness to take editorial responsibility for the provided information 32 TEMA LIBERO CON ESSAY DI “A PASSAGE TO INDIA”- FORSTER THEMES OF “A PASSAGE TO INDIA” BY FORSTER First of all, itisimportant to remember that Forster travelled twice to India in 1912 and 1921 and his trips helped him begin and complete “A Passage to India”, which was an important early document of post-colonialism. This poem brought him his greatest success. We can find many themes: For example is presented the theme of the difficulty of English- Indian Friendship from the very beginning, in fact “A passage to India” begins and ends by posing the question of whether it is possible for an Englishman and an Indian to ever be friends, at least within the context of British colonialism. Forster uses this question as a framework (=contesto) to explore the general issue of Britain's political control of India on a more personal level, through the friendship between Aziz (an Indian man) and Fielding (an English man). Asitis written in the essay, Forster’s main focus is their physical attitude which becomes negative towards each others, due to the development of the story. The two will never have the possibility to be friends until these ethnic barriers will be destroved. (Pag.83) RACE We have two cultures compared: the western is represented by the Anglo- Indians (the British administrators and their families in India) while the eastern (=orientale) is characterized by the Indians. In this case, the “Other” is characterised by the easter, especially for the racial issue. In fact, the pervading culture of the English in India is that one must adopt a racist attitude to survive and flourish (=prosperare), and that makes them superior to the Indians. Forster also examines the English tendency to be rational without emotion as in the essay he underlines that the disgusting attitude towards the Indians is due to historical, psychological, cultural and traditional behaviour. It remarks also the fact that “the English ruling class always humiliates the Indians”. Dr Aziz is called upon by Major Callendar, his senior, urgently to his bungalow. It irritates Aziz because he is a highly qualified educated Indian. The fact is that he is asked to come at bungalow and not hospital, not for an official matter, an operation, emergency duty etc, and his duty is in hospital, not at bungalow. He feels it and he discusses it with his friends. (Pag.77) Forster portrays the Indians as generally more emotional and imaginative than the English. 35 Interaction between eastern and western culture: Aziz and Mrs. Moore An important theme in the novel is the vast difference between the English colonial elite and the native population of India. Forster makes it clear that the British elite treats the Indians with disrespect; the Indians are preoccupied with the English treatment. There is, without a doubt, the distinction of RACE and RACISM which is accurately reported in the abstract of the “Race and Racism” essay. Rebecca Gronstends analyses the two words: * Race is further divided into racism and racialism. They stand for external and internal features. * Racism is physical and a behavior, Racialism is theoretical and ideological, a doctrine, a principle. (Pag.83) Another theme is the friendship between Dr Aziz and Fielding. This relationship is the most significant. This theme reminds to the friendship between Forster and Masood, born out of a working relationship between tutor and pupil that changed into a romantic relation, including his romance with Ali Mohammed, an Arabic Egyptian. As it is accurately written in the “Colonial Friendships” essay, the article reexamines the role of friendship. (Pag.124) Despite so many barriers of race, the two men succeed in creating a unique rapport that emerge as evidence of the power of goodwill and kindness. Mr. Fielding has his own views on colonial relations and on what the English should and should not do in India. His views and relative independence from the Anglo-Indian community in Chandrapore are such that he often disagrees with his countrymen or countrywomen's behaviors among themselves and toward the colonized. (Pag.137) The difference between the two men can be noticed in their first meeting. Fielding appears as a reserved, liberal and mature person who is full of goodwill and consideration. On the other hand, Aziz is an impulsive and unreserved man thanks to extreme of love and jealousy, affection and rancour. At the tea party, unlike Fielding, Aziz is shy and becomes exuberant. In spite of these fundamental differences of culture and temperament, the two enter into a genuine friendship that dissolves the various barriers between them. BUT After two years, we find Aziz again a man with a difference. He is now an enemy of the British and he lost his hopes on meeting with his former friend. 36 Fielding is now siding with Anglo-India and Aziz with Indian nationalism. They can't continue their friendship under these circumstances. —>the final scene allows hope of future reconciliation —>Fielding’s gestures toward Aziz: whispering into his ears and “half kissing” and “holding him affectionately” as is reported in the essay. (Pag. 143) Therefore, in the relationship between Aziz and Fielding Forster shows the complex tensions between East and West and the difficulties of human communication which make it impossible to continue a relationship formed between such different human beings. Regarding to the closing lines of the poem, in the “Breaking the Bonds of Marriage” essay is resumed the impossibility for such friendship to contradictory causes through the question of Fielding to Aziz: “Why can't we be friends now?”. The answer given to this question is “Not yet” which refers directly to politics, the current time that doesn't allow the two to be friends, whereas, “Not there” is referred to the difficulty to unite the two cultures. Their friendship will be achieved in “earth” and “sky”, as Aziz said. (Pag. 59,60) The second theme is the “Muddle” of India: The idea of "muddle" by Forster is made to create a distinction between the ideas of "muddle" and "mystery". e Muddle has connotations of chaos, dangerous and disorienting disorder * Mystery suggests a mystical, orderly plan by a spiritual force that is greater than man. It implies suggests something confusing but with an underlying purpose or mystical plan. Fielding admits that India is a muddle, while Mrs. Moore view India as a mystery. Forster himself often uses “orientalizing” terms to describe India, showing it as a muddle that is unable to be understood or properly described by Westerners. For example, he describes India’s architecture and natural landscape as formless and primitive, while he sees European architecture and landscape as aesthetically pleasing. In this way Forster and his British characters can't help but view India as a muddle they can never comprehend. The muddle also concerns the population, which is a mix of different religious, ethnic, linguistic, and regional groups. Muddles and mysteries are symbolized in the scene at the Marabar Caves. Forster never clearly explains what happened to Adela, and so the whole incident is a kind of horrible muddle. 37