Die reinste Form und der höchste Gehalt: teoria e prassi nel teatro di Friedrich Hebbel

Matt Kish’s “Every Page of Moby-Dick, Illustrated”: A Multimodal Approach

Abstract The purpose of this essay is to address the multimodal nature of Matt Kish’s project Every Page of Moby-Dick, Illustrated, where Herman Melville’s 1851 masterpiece is set as paratext. Particular focus is set on the portrayals of Captain Achab, specifically “Page 153”, “Page 465” and “Page 469”. The basic theoretical framework has been offered by Alice Gibbons’ theorization of multimodal cognitive poetics and Sigrid Norris’ systematization of multimodal (inter)action. Useful insight has been lent by Sharon Cameron’s work on allegories of the body in Melville’s writing. The given analysis aims to pinpoint the elements of innovation in Kish’s work with respect to the canonical formal …

Review of Ladies’ Greek: Victorian Translations of Tragedy

Review of the book Ladies’ Greek: Victorian Translations of Tragedy, Princeton University Press, Princeton & Oxford,2017 by Yopie Prins that wonders about the ways in which classical languages, in the Anglo-American area, have been associated with an idea of ​​​cultured and distinct womanhood.The work is mainly based on archival research. The main object of examination is the reception between the Women of Greek letters of Agamemnon (458 BC) and Prometheus chained (about 460 BC) of Aeschylus, of Elettra (about 410-409 BC) of Sophocles, of Hippolytus (428 BC) and of the Bacchaeus (405 BC) of Euripides.

Review of Hebbels Arbeit an Schiller

A review of Mingchao Mao, Friedrich Hebbels Arbeit an Schiller. Die Schiller-Rezeption in Hebbels Ästhetik und Dramatik. De Gruyter, 2019.

Revising Ovid’s Metamorphoses: Dramatizing the Mythical in Mary Shelley’s Proserpine

This contribution intends to assess the web of intertextual references in Mary Shelley’s drama Proserpine (1820), an early example of Romantic interest in revisionist mythology. The few critical efforts on the text focus on its transposition of the Ovidian narrative and its proto-feminist instances of mythical revisionism. Shelley’s adaptation primarily concerns characterization, structure and intended audience. In light of Ostriker’s (1984) suggestion that revisionist myth-making in women’s literary production constitutes a significant reshaping of shared culture and personal identity, Proserpine generally reads as a tale of defiance against patriarchal violence. The thoroughness of the ex…

Goethes Italienische Reise in Hebbels römischem Briefwechsel: Italienerfahrung zwischen Epigonalität und Originalität

Mit seiner Italienreise in den Jahren 1844–1845 leistet Friedrich Hebbel einen aktiven Beitrag zu dem wohlbekannten Kulturphänomen des Grand Tour.1 Bereits im Zeitalter der Aufklärung wird die im späten 17. Jahrhundert aufkommende Bildungsreise junger Adeliger zu einer Art Institution, die im 19. Jahrhundert zunehmend in einer ritualisierten touristischen Praxis mündet.2 In seiner 1816–1829 publizierten Italienischen Reise liefert Goethe ein für die deutsche Kultur nachhaltig wirkendes Vorbild der direkten Italienexploration. Mit seiner anthropologischen und kulturwissenschaftlichen Erkundung des Bel Paese bietet Goethe seinen Lesern das Vorbild einer aktiven Italienerfahrung mit dem Ziel d…

«Pfleget den Fremdenverkehr!». Karl Kraus e la propaganda d’incentivo al turismo

This study explores Karl Kraus’ case against ministerial incentives to promote tourism. Kraus covers the overlap between tourism and war propaganda, treating an apparently insignificant cultural phenomenon as a symptom of collective spiritual decay. As Kraus sees it, the governmental push to cultivate tourism serves as a diversion for Austrians amid the economic uncertainty brought on by the Great War. This essay examines instances of the theme in the Buchausgabe (1926) of the drama Die Letzten Tage der Menschheit, together with a selection of articles and glosses from Die Fackel (1899-1936).

Review of L’Austria e il Mediterraneo. Peregrinazioni e sconfinamenti tra realtà e immaginario

Review of the volume, L’Austria e il Mediterraneo. Peregrinazioni e sconfinamenti tra realtà e immaginario,Roma 2017, by Alessandra Schinina that puts a focus the historical-cultural intertwining to basis of the Austrian imaginary of the Mediterranean

Review of Metabolismo e spazio simbolico. Paradigmi mediali della Sicilia contemporanea

Review of the volume Metabolismo e spazio simbolico. Paradigmi mediali della Sicilia contemporanea, Napoli-Salerno: Orthotes, 2018, edited by Sieglinde Borvitz.In the anthology, the authors question the current cultural production in Sicily. As the preface by publisher Sieglinde Borvitz (pp. 5-15) makes clear, the contributions address their topic using the concept of metabolism as a symbol of the ongoing interaction between the cultural scene and the environment. The cultural studies approach sheds light on the procedural character of phenomena such as mythopoesis, urban regeneration, the dramatization of decay, the ritualization and spectacularization of folklore on the island.

Review of Filosofi dinnanzi alla Grande Guerra, 1914-1918

review of the work edited by Francesco Ghia – Massimo Giuliani Filosofi dinnanzi alla Grande Guerra, 1914-1918, monographic issue in the journal «Humanitas», 70, 6/2015: a collection that aims to offer a diversified sample of impressions and reflections at the turn of the World War I, problematizing the instances of intellectual militancy in time of conflict.

Review of Literature: An Introduction to Theory and Analysis

Review of the volume Literature: An Introduction to Theory and Analysis, a collective exploration of the substance and the purpose of literary theory that covers an array of topics rather than being confined to a discussion of various schools Pof criticism

«L’avvocato della totalità»: Claudio Magris su Friedrich Hebbel

Some of the key elements of Claudio Magris’ work as an academic surface in his writings on Friedrich Hebbel: the Danubian space, Trieste, the intersection between literature and law, totality, the relationship between literary theory and practice, revisionism of classics, the recovery of historicism as a hermeneutical tool, the legacy of György Lukacs and Scipio Slataper. In Danubio (1989) and in “Davanti alla legge” (2009), Magris discusses Hebbel’s Agnes Bernauer (1852) in terms of the power relations between the individual and the State, as a drama where history and chance work silently against the characters. The text captures Magris’ attention by virtue of Hebbel’s attempt to synthesiz…