The romance of Italy and the English political imagination
By: Maura O'Connor.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 246
Subjects: National characteristics, English -- History -- 19th century.; Public opinion -- England -- History -- 19th century.; British -- Italy -- History -- 19th century.; Great Britain -- Relations -- Italy.; Italy -- Politics and government -- 1789-1870 -- Foreign public opinion, British.; England -- Civilization -- Italian influences.; England -- Civilization -- 19th century.; Italy -- Relations -- Great Britain.
Description: In blurring the boundaries between fact and fiction, diplomats and travelers, and English and Italian concepts of nation, Maura O'Connor shows us the extent to which imagination, pleasure, and politics were intimately interwoven in the English middle-class's fascination with the Italian peninsula from the early 1800s through the 1860s.

O'Connor uses a variety of sources, ranging from travel writings and the popular press to diplomatic dispatches and official correspondence, to illustrate how influential the romance of Italy was to the bourgeois, liberal, and, above all, English social order during a time when class society was undergoing reconfiguration.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.