Ugo Foscolo e la cultura inglese : uno studio dell'Epistolario foscoliano
By: by Sandra Parmegiani.
Published: 2004
Language: ita
Number of pages: 254
ISBN-13: 9780494159835
Subjects: Foscolo, Ugo, -- 1778-1827 -- Criticism and interpretation.
Description: This thesis examines the relationship of Ugo Foscolo (1778-1827) to English culture through an analysis of his letters. It provides a comprehensive view of how Foscolo related to the literature, philosophy, and culture of England, the country where he lived in voluntary exile from 1816 to 1827. Foscolo produced a celebrated translation of Laurence Sterne's A Sentimental Journey , and the first part of the dissertation examines the influence of Sterne's prose on Foscolo's private correspondence. This analysis provides evidence of the central role played by Sterne's sentimental humour in Foscolo's self-representation; it also determines the different stages of such influence on Foscolo's works in general and on his Epistolario in particular. The second part of the thesis studies the philosophical correlations between Foscolo's epistemological views and the philosophy of Locke and Hume. It demonstrates the central influence of English empiricism on Foscolo's theory of knowledge, and on his political, ethical, and aesthetic principles. Locke's philosophy confirmed Foscolo in his anti-metaphysical thinking and supported his strong opposition to German idealism which was on the rise. Foscolo's letters constitute proof of the great extent to which the writer's philosophical beliefs were consistent with Hume's theory of passions, and this study also provides a link between Foscolo's analysis of pyrrhonism (or radical scepticism) and Hume's opinion on this key philosophical issue. The last chapter of this work focuses on Foscolo's views of English writers. It attests to Foscolo's extensive knowledge of eighteenth-century didactic poetry, his fondness for satirical and sentimental writers, the often ambiguous view he expressed of Shakespeare, the mixed admiration he showed for Pope, and his in depth reading of Johnson. A significant part of the chapter is devoted to Foscolo's analysis of contemporary English writers, his negative response towards the historical novel and much of contemporary Romanticism, and to his sympathetic insight into Byron as a man and an artist. This thesis provides a comprehensive and diachronic reading of the Epistolario , which reveals the rich and complex relations between the Italian writer and the culture of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century England.
Notes: Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Toronto, 2004.

Includes bibliographical references.

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