New Perspectives on the European Bildungsro man reflects the change in direction of research on the Bildungsroman, focusing on more psychological, authorial and feminist contents. Departing from the father of the archetype of the genre, Goethe, the authors trace imperative pathways to its French, British, and Italian counterparts, examining spiritual and female Bildungsromane. A wide-ranging analysis provides fresh insights into the genre through comparative analyses of Bildungsromane both diatopically and diachronically, while critical analysis of novels such as Voltaire's Candide, Charlotte...

Through a series of original analyses of poetic works belonging to the Italian canon or purposely posing themselves at the margins of it, this book seeks to highlight poetry as an art form which has the capacity to show the incongruities of society, not just semantically, but especially through the use it makes of signifiers, which allow meaning to come through notwithstanding linear communication. Specifically, this volume identifies and analyzes a line of diverse early modern to contemporary Italian poetic works in which the goal is not only to imitate or represent the world, but to enact a...

Positioned near the center of the Mediterranean, Sicily has for centuries given life to the cultural developments at the foundation of European modernity and has been a meeting point where civilizations confronted, but also transformed one another. In recent times, Sicily continues to be a critical Mediterranean crossroads, as a point of massive migratory processes, and a vital springboard for the interaction, advancement, and dissemination of diverse cultures. This collection of interdisciplinary essays explores Sicily's complex and rich history as a key point where the coming together of...