Debenedetti e la cultura europea.
Item
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Title
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Debenedetti e la cultura europea.
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Identifier
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AAI3037436
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identifier
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3037436
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Creator
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Pietrantonio, Vanessa.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Robert Dombroski
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Date
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2002
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Language
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Italian
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, Comparative | Literature, Modern
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Abstract
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The purpose of my study is to examine the transformation of the early 20th century novel through the work of Marcel Proust, as seen within the context of the development of Giacomo Debenedetti, one of Italy's most important contemporary critics. The vast scope of the argument necessitates the diversified critical grid adopted to show how Proust's early reception, first in France, then in Italy, is the catalyst of a 'new theory of the novel'.;The first two chapters discuss the Debenedetti's formation as a critic vis a vis Benedetto Croce's negative attitude toward Proust's work. De Benedetti initial responses to Croce are developed in this period through his friendship with the Triestine poet Umberto Saba who introduces him to the intellectual climate of his native city, to psychoanalysis, James Joyce, and middle European culture in general.;The third, fourth and fifth chapters treat Proust's critical reception in France from both a historical and theoretical perspective, with a detailed discussion of the writings of Riviere, Du Bos, Fernandez and Thibaudet, among others. De Benedetti addresses their criticisms, pointing out their limitations, while proposing a new reading of Proust in which the 'intermittencies of the heart' become the emblematic signs of a new narrative structure.;The focal point of chapters seven and eight is De Benedetti's last phase, where he juxtaposes the narrative strategies of Proust and Joyce, underscoring their similarities and proposing new theories of reading based on phenomenology and psychoanalysis. In this respect, the novels of Proust and Joyce become at once the raw material for a new theory of the modern novel and the obstacle that prevents De Benedetti from going beyond the achievements of these 'founding fathers' that for him constituted an unsurpassable model.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
