Grand Tourists and Marginal Figures in Early Romantic Naples
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Medieval & Modern Languages Fac
Abstract
The construction of Italy as a European Other can be traced back to Montesquieu's climatic determinism, accounting for the Italian South's misgovernment, purportedly idle population, and characterisation as a frontier of the Grand Tour. Following this enduring imaginative geography, Naples has remained overshadowed by the core cities of the "golden triangle" (Venice, Florence and Rome). Academic interest in the city is now emerging, but Naples' role in the blossoming of a romantic sensibility deserves more attention.
I intend to address this research gap and assess the hypothesis that marginal figures (e.g. the impoverished population of lazzaroni, Neapolitan women, the hermit of Mount Vesuvius) became central to the Romantic imagery. This will include an assessment of the Visitors' role in the creation and consumption of stereotypical views on Neapolitan society. My second hypothesis is that Naples conversely provided a liberating outlet for authors who were marginalised in their own society.
From Sade's disdainful descriptions of ill-mannered street people to Lamartine's "happy lazzaroni", the Neapolitan poor are sometimes depicted as the lowest rungs of society, and sometimes picturesquely fascinating, as a new embodiment of the Noble Savage. The British Envoy to Naples, Hamilton, shares the widely acknowledged view that lazzaroni were "ready to set fire to public buildings as was Vesuvius itself" [1], making the volcano the synecdoche of their eruptive disposition. I will address the lacuna pointed out by Melissa Calaresu, who mentioned that "there does not yet exist an integrated study of the depiction of the poor in the Neapolitan landscape painting such as exists for English painting in the same period" [2].
I will also consider marginal female figures in understudied texts such as Latouche's Fragoletta, Lamartine's Graziella, or Gautier's Arria Marcella. Like the lazzaroni, representations of the Neapolitan women stemmed from stereotyped, exotic clichés, and call for postcolonial and gender-based approaches. In Arria Marcella, the protagonist becomes infatuated with the imprint of a Pompeian woman's breast set in lava. This marginal female figure buried for centuries lodged itself in the Romantic imagery. Latouche's Fragoletta features a hero whose hermaphrodite-esque attributes allude to a marginal sexual identity yet to be explored.
In a third part, I will focus on the hermit on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius. Living in a retreat from society, he eventually becomes a central figure in the circuit of the Grand Tour. Chateaubriand, Staël, Stendhal and Dumas gave contrasting accounts on this figure, and the Album de l'Ermitage held at the Maison Chateaubriand will provide invaluable details. A crucial missing piece in the ever-expanding map of the Grand Tour, I will promote this archive in a digital, interactive blog surveying on-the-spot reactions from European Visitors.
Finally, I will investigate how marginalised authors found in Naples both a refuge and an empowering outlet for expression. Hester Piozzi, who lost the esteem of her social circles after marrying an Italian music teacher, found an escape in Naples. The city is also an erotic outlet for marginalised, taboo desires. Fleeing from Paris in 1775 to avoid arrest, Sade's stay in Naples inspires his novel Juliette. The Marquis portrays the city as a libidinous place, where travellers are relieved of their moral and bourgeois constraints.
I intend to address this research gap and assess the hypothesis that marginal figures (e.g. the impoverished population of lazzaroni, Neapolitan women, the hermit of Mount Vesuvius) became central to the Romantic imagery. This will include an assessment of the Visitors' role in the creation and consumption of stereotypical views on Neapolitan society. My second hypothesis is that Naples conversely provided a liberating outlet for authors who were marginalised in their own society.
From Sade's disdainful descriptions of ill-mannered street people to Lamartine's "happy lazzaroni", the Neapolitan poor are sometimes depicted as the lowest rungs of society, and sometimes picturesquely fascinating, as a new embodiment of the Noble Savage. The British Envoy to Naples, Hamilton, shares the widely acknowledged view that lazzaroni were "ready to set fire to public buildings as was Vesuvius itself" [1], making the volcano the synecdoche of their eruptive disposition. I will address the lacuna pointed out by Melissa Calaresu, who mentioned that "there does not yet exist an integrated study of the depiction of the poor in the Neapolitan landscape painting such as exists for English painting in the same period" [2].
I will also consider marginal female figures in understudied texts such as Latouche's Fragoletta, Lamartine's Graziella, or Gautier's Arria Marcella. Like the lazzaroni, representations of the Neapolitan women stemmed from stereotyped, exotic clichés, and call for postcolonial and gender-based approaches. In Arria Marcella, the protagonist becomes infatuated with the imprint of a Pompeian woman's breast set in lava. This marginal female figure buried for centuries lodged itself in the Romantic imagery. Latouche's Fragoletta features a hero whose hermaphrodite-esque attributes allude to a marginal sexual identity yet to be explored.
In a third part, I will focus on the hermit on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius. Living in a retreat from society, he eventually becomes a central figure in the circuit of the Grand Tour. Chateaubriand, Staël, Stendhal and Dumas gave contrasting accounts on this figure, and the Album de l'Ermitage held at the Maison Chateaubriand will provide invaluable details. A crucial missing piece in the ever-expanding map of the Grand Tour, I will promote this archive in a digital, interactive blog surveying on-the-spot reactions from European Visitors.
Finally, I will investigate how marginalised authors found in Naples both a refuge and an empowering outlet for expression. Hester Piozzi, who lost the esteem of her social circles after marrying an Italian music teacher, found an escape in Naples. The city is also an erotic outlet for marginalised, taboo desires. Fleeing from Paris in 1775 to avoid arrest, Sade's stay in Naples inspires his novel Juliette. The Marquis portrays the city as a libidinous place, where travellers are relieved of their moral and bourgeois constraints.
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ORCID iD |
| Clara Baudet (Student) |