The Brute and the Civilized Man in Late 19th Century Italian Literature Cover Image

La brute et l’homme civilisé dans la littérature italienne de la deuxième moitié du XIXe siècle.
The Brute and the Civilized Man in Late 19th Century Italian Literature

Author(s): Michela TOPPANO
Subject(s): Literary Texts
Published by: Editura Universităţii Vasile Goldiş
Keywords: Animality – humanity – Italian Literature – 19th century – theory of evolution, Animalité – humanité – littérature italienne – XIXe siècle – évolutionnisme, Animalitate – umanitate – literaturăitaliană – secolul XIX – teoriaevolutionistă

Summary/Abstract: In the second half of the 19th century, Italian culture appropriated the theory of evolution which states that man is descended from the apes and thus establishes a very close link between the beast and the man. Through the analysis of three texts – the short story “Jeli, ilpastore” (1880) by Giovanni Verga, the novelsI Vicerè(1894) by Federico De Roberto andL’anno 3000.Sogno(1897) by Paolo Mantegazza – we demonstrate that all these authors agree about the conception of the animal nature of man. Nevertheless, they conceive in a different way the relationships between humanity and animality and judge these relationships differently. They provide different answers about the possibility or the impossibility for man to domesticate his animal nature. As such, these works, although selected, show how various the reactions are to two important questions of 19th century culture: body control and the possibility of progress.

  • Issue Year: X/2014
  • Issue No: 03
  • Page Range: 93-100
  • Page Count: 8
  • Language: French
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