
Valentina Varinelli
ITALIAN IMPROMPTUS
A Study of P.B. Shelley’s Writings in Italian
with an Annotated Edition
ISBN 978-88-7916-994-3 - 15,5 x 22 cm - 2022 - pp. 280
€ 37,00 (-15%) € 31,45
P.B. Shelley’s writings in Italian include translations and self-translations, original poetry and prose, and private letters, which can all be dated to the time of the poet’s Italian exile, ending with his tragic death two hundred years ago. These writings are the product of a sustained engagement with Italian language and literature which was central to Shelley’s experience of Italy, yet they have long been dismissed as a biographical curiosity, receiving limited scholarly attention. This book aims to redress this neglect. It establishes the significance of Shelley’s Italian endeavours for the maturing of his poetics and his theories of language and translation and it reveals the revolutionary aim behind them, showing that the poet took advantage of contemporary Italian literary disputes to promote his political ideals abroad and forward the cause of Italy’s independence. Theoretically- informed analysis and close reading are combined with detailed contextualisation, including the reconstruction of Shelley’s language learning practice in England and his reaction to the peculiar sociolinguistic situation he found on his arrival in Italy. This study firmly places Shelley within the rich literary tradition of foreign writers in Italian, contributing to the lively field of research on Romantic cosmopolitanism and adding an important chapter to the history of Anglo-Italian cultural relations. Complementing the study is a new edition of Shelley’s writings in Italian based on a fresh examination of the original manuscripts, which will prove a valuable resource for students of the poet and scholars of Italian studies and translation studies alike.
Valentina Varinelli completed her AHRC-funded PhD in English Literature at Newcastle University, UK, and currently teaches at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Brescia, Italy. Her research interests include Romantic poetry, Anglo-Italian literary relations, travel writing, manuscript studies, and bibliography. She is assistant editor of the Meridiani Mondadori editions of P.B. Shelley’s works (2018) and has published articles and essays on P.B. Shelley, Mary Shelley, and their circle.
European Romantic Review
- www.tandfonline.com/journals/gerr20
Italian Impromptus: A Study of P.B. Shelley’s Writings in Italian with an Annotated Edition by Valentina Varinelli, Milano, LED Edizioni Universitarie di Lettere Economia Diritto, 2022, 278 pp.
Abbreviations
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1.
Introduction: P.B. Shelley and the Italian language
1.1. Shelley’s study of Italian – 1.2. “Italian platonics”? Redressing the received view of Shelley’s Italian writings – 1.3. Shelley and the literary tradition of foreign writers in Italian
2.
The Sgricci review: a pledge for the future of Italy
2.1. Tommaso Sgricci and the vogue for extempore poetry – 2.2. Italy as theatre – 2.3. From the Sgricci review to “A Defence of Poetry” – 2.4. Shelley’s search for an Italian audience
3.
Shelley translating Shelley
3.1. The language of Shelleys self-translations – 3.2. Variations between source and target texts – 3.3. Translate yourself and someone will translate you
4.
Poetry translation into Italian
4.1. The “Knight’s Tale” translation – 4.2. “Goodnight” / “Buona Notte”, or Shelley’s Anglo-Italian Doppelgedicht – 4.3. Shelley’s theory of translation
5.
“barbari accenti”: original verses and “Una Favola
5.1. Italian terza rima and the limits of language – 5.2. The quest for an Italian form in “Una Favola”
6.
Shelley’s epistolary Italian
6.1. Letter writing etiquette – 6.2. Shelley’s correspondence with Teresa Viviani – 6.3. “cattivo italiano”?
Textual Note
1. Letter to Marianna Candidi Dionigi, December 1819
2. Fragmentary drafts of letters to Teresa Viviani
3. Translation of Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Knight’s Tale”, 1035-1037
4. “Sulla morte”: review of Tommaso Sgricci’s improvised tragedy Ettore
5. Translation of Epipsychidion, 3-4
6. Translation of Epipsychidion, 1-2
7. Translation of “To S[idmouth] and C[astlereagh]”, 1-4
8. Translation of Prometheus Unbound, 2.5.72-110
9. Translation of Prometheus Unbound, 2.5.48-71
10. Translation of Prometheus Unbound, 4.1-82
11. Translation of The Revolt of Islam, 667-698
12. “Ode alla Libertà”
13. “Buona Notte”
14. Verse fragments in terza rima
15. “Una Favola”
16. Letter to Teresa Guiccioli, 10 August 1821
17. Letter to Teresa Guiccioli, 22 August 1821
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Lingue e Culture - Languages and Cultures - Langues et Cultures - ISSN 2234-9235
Collana diretta da Giovanni Gobber e Marisa Verna
Comitato scientifico: Thomas Austenfeld - Susan Conrad - Manuel Alvar Ezquerra - Françoise Gaillard - Roman Govorucho - Augusto Guarino - Juliane House - Georgy Akhillovich Levinton - Anthony Mollica - Michael Rossington - Nikola Roßbach - José Carlos Rovira Soler - William Sharpe - Thomas Travisano - Bart Van Den Bossche - Jakob Wüest