Writing Colonisation: Violence, Landscape, and the Act of Naming in Modern Italian and Australian Literature (Currents in Comparative Romance Languages and Literatures)

Writing Colonisation: Violence, Landscape, and the Act of Naming in Modern Italian and Australian Literature offers a unique comparative analysis of modern Italian and Australian literature which has never been attempted at such length and depth. The book investigates the relation between language, violence, and colonialism through comparing and contrasting selected texts in the Italian and Australian tradition (Dino Buzzati, Ennio Flaiano, Guido Ceronetti, Patrick White, David Malouf, Randolph Stow, and Barbara Baynton) and submitting them to a close analysis. The literary analysis is complemented by a critical reflection on philosophical discussions of language in continental philosophy, especially in the works of Walter Benjamin, Maurice Blanchot, and Martin Heidegger. The book provides innovative insights into colonialism, shedding new light and ideas on the works of the authors under analysis. The book argues for a novel reading of Italian and Australian texts and employs this reading to interrogate the ways in which language has been deployed to negotiate the colonial experience – especially in relation to the interface between language and landscape – and relates this experience to Western interpretation of religious texts (e.g., Genesis), which have often been used as a justification of colonial exploitation. The book is an excellent reference for courses on comparative literature and postcolonial literature. Cover 1 Table of Contents 7 Acknowledgements 9 Introduction 11 PART ONE 19 Chapter One: Landscape 21 1. Definition Of landscape: framing the world 22 2. Mysterious and unknown landscape 24 3. Utopia of no-place 29 4. Terror and paranoia about place 32 5. The sublime 34 Chapter Two: The Frontier That Frames the Desert: Dino Buzzati’s "Il deserto dei tartari" and Patrick White’s "Voss" 37 1. Stories 38 2. War and desert 39 3. "These who died of landscape" 43 4. The journey to the desert 46 5. Imagining and becoming the desert 50 6. Exploration and waiting 55 Chapter Three: Apparitions in the Desert: Drogo and Voss Meet the Unknown 57 1. The Tartars and the inland sea 58 2. Apparitions and bunya bunya 64 3. Undone by the desert 68 1. The Tartars and the inland sea 58 2. Apparitions and bunya bunya 64 3. Undone by the desert 68 PART TWO 73 Chapter Four: The Act of Naming 75 1. Naming beyond the frontier 76 2. Primeval language and Genesis 79 3. Existence and speech 82 Chapter Five: "Silence, the Virtue of Speaking:" David Malouf’s "An Imaginary Life" 91 1. Ovid, the sad exile 93 2. The translation of a world 98 3. Fragments of pure language 102 4. Beyond the river of silence 107 Chapter Six: An Angelic Rape: Guido Ceronetti’s "Difesa della luna e altri argomenti di miseria terrestre" 111 1. Guido Ceronetti and the moon 112 2. an ambiguous oracle: the Bible and the dominion over the universe 114 3. The first naming: a mesmeric caress over the universe 120 4. “Et Indi Vanno Al Regno De La Luna”: myth, footprint and violation 125 PART THREE 135 Chapter Seven: “Le colonie si fanno con la Bibbia alla aano”: Ennio Flaiano’s "Tempo di uccidere" 137 1. Historical background 140 2. The African landscape as a stage and the Orientalist gaze 141 3. Mariam: “something more than a tree, something less than a woman” 148 4. Naming in the African biblical setting 149 5. Sleeping in a tomb 153 6. Leprosy: the manifestation of guilt 158 Chapter Eight: Visionaries and Prophets in Barbara Baynton’s “The Chosen Vessel” and Randolph Stow’s "Tourmaline" 163 1. “And has Thou chosen me?”: the elusive smile of the Madonna 165 2. Saint or whore? The interpretation that kills 173 3. The mouthpiece of God in the desert 175 4. Christianity, the Tao and the land on its own terms 182 Conclusion 189 Notes 195 Bibliography 247 Index of Names 261 __Writing Colonisation: Violence, Landscape, and the Act of Naming in Modern Italian and Australian Literature__ The book provides innovative insights into colonialism, shedding new light and ideas on the works of the authors under analysis. The book argues for a novel reading of Italian and Australian texts and employs this reading to interrogate the ways in which language has been deployed to negotiate the colonial experience - especially in relation to the interface between language and landscape - and relates this experience to Western interpretation of religious texts (e.g., Genesis), which have often been used as a justification of colonial exploitation. The book is an excellent reference for courses on comparative literature and postcolonial literature «This book is a major contribution to the study of a set of selected texts in modern Italian and Australian literature, and to the use of language as an accessory to a positive and ultimately ordained representation of colonialism, hiding issues of conquest, dominion, and exploitation. The great merit of this book is not only that it produces innovative readings of significant literary texts but that it also positions them at the cutting edge of a reappraisal of literature as a useful epistemological instrument to gain access to experiences of colonisation. This is achieved through a critical discourse which is sustained but also engaging, rich, and textured.» (Paolo Bartoloni, Head of Italian Studies, National University of Ireland, Galway)..