Irresistible Signs: The Genius of Language and Italina National Identity

Paola Gambarota

Published by University of Toronto Press 2011

Irresistible Signs

The Genius of Language and Italina National Identity

Paola Gambarota

https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442695269

Overview
Contents

About this book

In Irresistible Signs, Paola Gambarota investigates the connection between Italian language and national identity over four hundred years, from late-Renaissance linguistic theories to nineteenth-century nationalist myths.

Author / Editor information

Gambarota Paola :

Paola Gambarota is an assistant professor in the Department of Italian at Rutgers University.

Reviews

Maria Truglio, Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, Pennsylvania State University:
'Irresistible Signs rigorously examines how the relationship between language and nation has been theorized by Italian thinkers over the course of four centuries. Paola Gambarota firmly situates each author analysed within the larger context of humanist, Enlightenment, and Romantic philosophical currents and balances broad concepts with insightful close readings. Meticulously researched and clearly written, Gambarota's study unpacks the urgent central question of the ideological chains that link the qualities of the "mother tongue" to the essential character of those who speak it.'

The MLA's Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Publication Award for a Manuscript in Italian Literary Studies 2010 Selection Committee:
'A captivating dialogic approach invites the reader to consider the Italian discourse on language and the national body in relation to those by other European intellectuals from the 1600s through the 1800s, as well as to contemporary theories of the nation. Exhibiting an impressive command of theoretical work, Gambarota's discussions are exceptionally engaging and rich with insights that create new critical perspectives for a variety of fields of inquiry. This highly original work is a significant contribution within and beyond the sphere of Italian studies.'

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
1 Scripts of Vernaculars and Collective Characters in Early Modern Europe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 Ut Lingua, Natio: Dominique Bouhours’s Genius of the Nation and Ludovico Antonio Muratori’s Italian Republic of Letters Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
3 Giambattista Vico, the Vernacular, and the Foundations of Modern Italy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	99
4 Translating Genius: Cesarotti, Ossian, and the Question of National Character Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
5 Towards Sameness: Leopardi’s Critique of Character, and the End of the Nation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	190
Irresistible Signs? A Postscript and the Question of Media Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	307
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	339

Language: English
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Audience: College/higher education;Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 368

eBook

Published: February 5, 2011
ISBN: 9781442695269