My dissertation “Sensuous Wanderings: Urban Spaces in the Literary Imagination of Italian Writers in Alexandria, Egypt” explores the literary invention of Alexandria cityscape from the early 1900’s and the 1940’s in Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and Giuseppe Ungaretti’s travelogues (Il fascino dell’Egitto and Quaderno egiziano) and Enrico Pea and Fausta Cialente’s narratives (Vita in Egitto, Ballata levantina, respectively). Inspired by Bertrand Westphal’s notion of geocriticism and adopting a sensory-centered approach, my research demonstrates that their representations of the city rather than debunking the imperialistic perspectives at the core of the Western literary invention of Alexandria, they contribute to it. Relying on the writers’ sensuous perceptions of the city space I demonstrate that despite their privileged position as inside and/or outside members of the international community, and despite their political activism and anti-colonial intents, their narratives reenact and reify dynamics of urban separation, cultural hierarchy, and political dominance.
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Italian
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Alexandria (Egypt)
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Italian literature--History and criticism
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
Identifier
ETD_7214
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
1 online resource (vii, 268 p. : ill.)
Note (type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Arianna Fognani
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore19991600001
Location
PhysicalLocation (authority = marcorg); (displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
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Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.