Gabriele D’Annunzio and World Literature
Multilingualism, Translation, Reception
Edited by Elisa Segnini, Michael Subialka
- First book to examine Gabriele D’Annunzio’s work from a global perspective and within World Literature paradigms
- Transnational and cross-disciplinary focus: unveils D’Annunzio’s investment in multilingualism, including dialect and translingual writing, as well as the influence of issues of mobility and migration, colonialism and politics on the global reception of his works
- Introduces a polycentric view of D’Annunzio by bringing together chapters written by scholars from 12 countries (Italy, France, Belgium, Austria, Spain, UK, US, Canada, Russia, Egypt, Argentina, Japan), whose work in many cases appears in English for the first time
- Unveils the crucial role of D’Annunzio’s translators as cultural mediators and examines translations and adaptations as politically charged practices
- Redefines D’Annunzio scholarship through a transnational lens, while also making a crucial contribution to studies of global decadence by demonstrating the role of Italian decadence in international networks of literary and artistic exchange
Gabriele D’Annunzio was an internationally renowned artist and one of the most prominent public figures in Italy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His novels and poetry stirred the enthusiasm of James Joyce and Henry James in the English-speaking world and his repute stretched far beyond – in France, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Japan and South America, D’Annunzio became a pivotal node in the broad networks of decadent exchange. This volume offers an overview of the global dynamics of D’Annunzio’s work, from his engagement with multilingualism and translingual writing to the international circulation and reception of his production. Featuring chapters by international scholars, it re-evaluates D’Annunzio with a critical eye and a transnational scope and offers a global assessment of the place that Dannunzian decadence holds in the constitution of a conflicted movement – one that is profoundly cosmopolitan and yet also problematically nationalistic.
‘Introduction’, Elisa Segnini and Michael Subialka
Part 1. A Poetics of Fusion: Cultural Appropriation, Multilingualism, Translingual Writing
1. ‘D’Annunzio and the Classics’, Pietro Gibellini, translated by Stuart Oglethorpe 2. ‘D’Annunzio and Japanisms’, Mariko Muramatsu3. ‘Il Piacere as a Multilingual Text and its Afterlife in Translation’, Elisa Segnini4. ‘The original soul of the race": La figlia di Iorio and Italian Dialects’, Sarah Zappulla Muscarà and Enzo Zappulla, translated by Stuart Oglethorpe5.‘The "Latin sister": D’Annunzio’s Relationship to French’, Filippo Fonio
Part 2. Translators as Transcultural Negotiators
6. ‘Gabriele D’Annunzio and Georges Hérelle: Virility, Machismo, and the Homo-erotic’, Clive Thomson7. ‘After Hérelle: André Doderet, the (In)visible Translator’, Annalisa Ciano8. ‘"An Artist in Translation": D’Annunzio, Arthur Symons, and Symbolist Drama’, Stefano Evangelista8. ‘Gabriele D’Annunzio and Karl Gustav Vollmoeller: From Classical Culture to the Attractions of Motor Power’, Adriana Vignazia, translated by Stuart Oglethorpe
Part 3. D’Annunzio’s Global Fin-de-siècle Reception
9. ‘Fin-de-Meiji as Fin-de-siècle: D’Annunzio and Japanese Literature’, Noriko Hiraishi10. ‘D’Annunzio’s Feminine Archetypes, Nationalist Ideology, and Catalan Modernism’, Assumpta Camps, translated by Alessia Zinnari11. ‘Gabriele D’Annunzio and the Austrian Reception after Italy’s Entry into the War’, Arturo Larcati, translated by Peter Bruckner
Part 4. Complex Legacies
12. ‘D’Annunzio and Argentina: from Elitist Snobbism to Nationalist Peronism’, Sandro Abate, translated by Alessia Zinnari and Sophie Maddison13. ‘Gabriele D’Annunzio in the United States: Politics and Stereotypes’, Guylian Nemegeer and Mara Santi14. ‘D’Annunzio’s Legacy in Post-Revolutionary Russia’, Elda Garetto and Sofia Lurie, translated by Stuart Oglethorpe15. ‘From "Great Italian Poet" to "Fascist Writer": D’Annunzio and Arabic Culture’, Hussein Mahmoud and Christine Samir Girgis16. ‘Morlach’s Blood in Fiume’s Mensa: D’Annunzio and the Intimate Adriatic’, Russell Scott Valentino17. ‘Infatuated with Il Vate: Mishima’s Transnational Mimesis of D’Annunzio as Decadent Poet, Patriot, and Celebrity’, Ikuho Amano18. ‘D’Annunzio in the Twenty-First Century’, Elisa Segnini and Michael Subialka
This wide-ranging and informative collection makes a strong case for seeing D'Annunzio as among the key figures in modern world literature. Persuasively demonstrating how D'Annunzio had a broad influence across Europe, East Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, the collection covers topics including D'Annunzio's wide reading in world literature, as well as the author’s relationship with his translators and his global reception. The book makes a valuable contribution to world literature studies, as well as to the burgeoning scholarly interest in the global <i>fin de siècle</i>.
This edited collection tells a compelling story about Gabriele D’Annunzio’s role in transnational and translingual literary and cultural exchanges in the fin-de-siècle. It does so by using the highly productive framework of world literature, offering a refreshing shift in research perspective and methodological framing which helps to reposition D’Annunzio and Italian Decadent culture in a much broader context of transnational flow of artistic and cultural influences.
[…] The focus on a transnational and cultural contextualization of D’Annunzio’s multifaceted literary production is the much needed ground upon which we can better appreciate the standing, influence, and legacy of this figure who, for the duration of the late nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century, was the only Italian writer to truly transcend national borders.
