Italian Music in Dakota

An investigation of transatlantic cultural interchanges and the evolution of Anglo-American taste in a multicultural society.

The intersection between literature and music is a major feature in Anglo-American cultural history. The present volume analyzes the transatlantic migration of European opera and its appropriation by some of the most important literary figures of the United States. The presence of opera in literary texts is always operative and results in artistic outputs possessing more articulated and tense vectors of meaning. The comparative method applied confirms the musical sensitivity of masters such as Poe, Whitman, Melville, Dickinson, Wharton, Cather, reveals the intriguing contradictions in the poetics of Emerson, Thoreau and James and vindicates the role of some minor figures who, through their involvement in the world of musical theater, contributed to the intercultural context.

Auteur
Prof Dr Andrea Mariani recently retired from his position as a full professor of Anglo-American Literature at the University of Chieti-Pescara.

Texte du rabat

The major focus of the book is to verify the impact of European opera on some major authors (such as Whitman, Melville, Dickinson, James, Santayana, Merrill) who exemplify the function of opera as an instrument of self definition and occasion for the search of deeper truths. The study uses the critical instruments of both cultural studies and philological research in order to offer an ample vision of the context of events, and a close reading of texts chosen. In spite of their Puritan heritage, Americans showed an early interest in theater, including musical theater. The fortunes of Mozart's music and Da Ponte's librettos at the beginning of 19th century forerun the triumphs of opera companies which later toured the country, reaching its remotest corners.