The works of Claudio Magris
Subtitle: temporary homes, mobile identities, European borders
By: Nicoletta Pireddu
Edition: First edition.
Series: Italian and Italian American studies; Palgrave pivot; Italian and Italian American studies; Palgrave pivot
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2015
Place of publication: New York, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 138
ISBN-13: 9781137492623
Subjects: Dwellings in literature; Criticism and interpretation
Description: The first English book on contemporary Italian writer Claudio Magris, this study examines the connections between space and individual, national and European identity in his works. Magris invites us to cross the borders that enclose private and public spheres in order to discover the otherness within ourselves and reject the fanaticism of self-sameness. Through the recurring image of temporary homes, the book explores Magris's incessant search for meaning and values, aiming at a habitable life, where diversity and tolerance can prevail over all fundamentalisms. With a sophisticated theoretical framework, this innovative analysis involves Magris's entire fiction and non-fiction writings, down to his most recent, still untranslated collections. With what Pireddu calls "geography of domesticity," Magris addresses the crucial question of the return to humanism that is moving literature and theory beyond the alleged death of the subject, and confirms the enduring value of the humanities as a critical and constructive tool.
Notes: Includes bibliography (pages 127-134) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: Claudio Magris's geography of domesticity; title: 1. Households of the self; title: 1.1 Stadelmann: dwelling in the space of the "-ex"; title: 1.2 At the self's door: You Will Therefore Understand The Voices; title: 1.3 Hosting life in the moment: A Different Sea and Il Conde; title: 2. Homely memories, promised homelands; title: 2.1 A nomad and fugitive abode: Trieste and its narratives; title: 2.2 Inferences from a Sabre: mapping the heart's homestead; title: 3. European thresholds and relocations; title: 3.1 Mittleluropa: a dislodged center; title: 3.2 Danube: the liquid path to rooted homelessness; title: 3.2.1 Fluctuating domiciles; title: 3.2.2 Soluble sites; title: 3.2.3 House, town, community; title: 3.2.4 Flowing home?; title: 4. From snug refuges to ghastly cells; title: 4.1 Microcosms: the flâneur in his homescapes; title: 4.1.1 Image masonry; title: 4.1.2 Domestic aromas; title: 4.1.3 Residential antinomies; title: 4.2 Global unhomeliness: Blindly; title: 5. Habitat and habitus; title: 5.1 The essayist and the tortoise; title: 5.2 Edifices of values; title: 5.3 The fortress and the drawbridge; title: Conclusion.