The Works of Claudio Magris Temporary Homes, Mobile Identities, European Borders

by Pireddu, Nicoletta

• ISBN13: 9781137492623
• ISBN10: 1137492627
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2015-01-13
• Publisher: Palgrave Pivot

Summary

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.

Author Biography

Nicoletta Pireddu is Associate Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature at Georgetown University, USA. Her monograph Antropologi alla corte della bellezza. Decadenza ed economia simbolica nell'Europa fin de siècle received the American Association for Italian Studies Book Prize. She edited Paolo Mantegazza's The Physiology of Love and Other Writings and The Year 3000, and has authored over fifty articles in journals like Comparative Literature, Romanic Review, Gothic Studies, and Research in African Literatures. She was awarded fellowships from the NEH and the Howard Foundation, and the "Mario Soldati" prize for criticism.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Claudio Magris's Geography of Domesticity

1. Households of the Self
2. Homely Memories, Promised Homelands
3. European Thresholds and Relocations
4. From Snug Refuges to Ghastly Cells
5. The Essayist and the Tortoise

Conclusion