Darkest Italy: The Nation and Stereotypes of the Mezzogiorno, 1860-1900

Stereotypical representations of the Mezzogiorno are a persistent feature of Italian culture at all levels. In Darkest Italy, John Dickie analyzes these stereotypes in the post-Unification period, when the Mezzogiorno was widely seen as barbaric, violent or irrational, an "Africa" on the European continent. At the same time, this is the moment when the Mezzogiorno became a metaphor for the state of the country as a whole, the index of Italy s modernity. Dickie argues that these stereotypes, rather than being a symptom of the failings of national identity in Italy, were actually integral to the way Italy s bourgeoisie imagined themselves as Italian. Drawing on recent theories of Otherness and national identity, Dickie brings a new light to an important and well-established area of Italian history - the relationship between the South and the nation as a whole.

Author: Na Na
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Published: 09/17/1999
Pages: 209
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.84lbs
Size: 8.64h x 5.70w x 0.81d
ISBN: 9780312221683

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 11/01/1999 pg. 100

About the Author
John Dickie is Lecturer in Italian Studies at University College London.