
The Distance to China
Twentieth-Century Italian Travel Narratives of Patriotism, Commitment and Disillusion (1898-1985)
Linetto Basilone(Author)
Peter Lang Verlag
Published on 26. December 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
320 pages
978-1-78997-510-9 (ISBN)
Description
«As Italy tends to be studied increasingly in transnational and transcultural perspective, there is an ever-greater need for studies that explore the country's relationship with other geographical areas and cultural configurations. Linetto Basilone's work is an important contribution to research of this kind. The work provides a panoramic view of how journalists and travel writers from the late nineteenth century to the 1980s have sought to represent China, its relationship with Italy, and its growing geopolitical significance. The ideological and cultural context in which Italian observers were writing is always appropriately foregrounded; the analysis of the work of individual writers is nuanced and sophisticated; and the exploration of the inter-relation of different positionalities is intriguing throughout. The text will be of interest to anyone interested in understanding the cultural history of Italy's relationship with China.»
(Charles Burdett, Director, Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies, University of London)
Over the course of the twentieth century, China became a destination of choice for hundreds of the most prominent Italian writers, journalists, and politicians. Informed by the cultural, economic, and political relationship between Italy and China since the late 1890s, the travel narratives of these authors contributed to the creation of multiple and varied representations of the country. This book fills a gap in the study of the development of Italian travel narratives on twentieth-century China. It classifies the major portraits of China under five chronologically and ideologically ordered types of representation and offers readers a structured understanding of the processes of «writing» China in Italy. The study sheds new light on how China was associated with the specific cultural, political, and social traits of Italy and Italian culture; how it reinforced ideological indoctrination among Italian intellectual elites; and how significant such travel narratives were for the ideological orientation of the Italian readership.
The authors discussed in the book include, among others: Luigi Barzini Sr., Mario Appelius, Arnaldo Cipolla, Franco Fortini, Carlo Cassola, Curzio Malaparte, Alberto Moravia, Goffredo Parise, Maria Antonietta Macciocchi, Gianni Rodari, Luigi Malerba, Alberto Arbasino, Edoarda Masi, and Tiziano Terzani.
More details
Series
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
New edition
Illustrations
24 Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
488 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78997-510-9 (9781789975109)
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Linetto Basilone
The Distance to China
Twentieth-Century Italian Travel Narratives of Patriotism, Commitment and Disillusion (1898-1985)
E-Book
12/2022
1st Edition
Peter Lang Verlag
€71.49
Available for download

Linetto Basilone
The Distance to China
Twentieth-Century Italian Travel Narratives of Patriotism, Commitment and Disillusion (1898-1985)
E-Book
12/2022
1st Edition
Peter Lang Verlag
€71.49
Available for download
Person
Linetto Basilone holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Auckland and an MA in Comparative Literature from the University of Naples «L'Orientale». He teaches Global Studies at the University of Auckland and is affiliated with the Centro Studi Fortini-Masi. He specializes in the study of cross-cultural encounters, identity construction, and political discourse in literature.
Content
Contents: The Politics of Textuality: A Theoretical Framework - Italian Travel Narratives of War, Modernity, and Patriotism in Late Imperial and Early Republican China (1898-1916) - The Chinese Alterity: Italianita and Ideology in the Italian Travel Literature on China during the Fascist Ventennio (1922-1943) - Italian Leftist Intellectuals in the People's Republic of China: A Matter of Spiritual Affinity (1949-1960) - In Search of Chinese Purity: Italian Leftist Intellectuals in Maoist China during and after the Cultural Revolution (1966-1975) - On the Nonexistence of a Chinese Utopia: Italian Narratives of Disbelief, Disenchantment, and Nostalgia (1978-1985).