The Politics of Public Celebrations: This session would call for an exploration of the uses to which festive culture lent itself in 17th, 18th and 19th-century Italy. Lavish public celebrations were often meant to project the power of local rulers to the general public and served to underline or enforce ideas of universal order and transcendental…[Read more]

Public Opinion, Literary Successes and Failures: “Public opinion is the most powerful instrument in every country for influencing the actions of the great” (Ugo Foscolo, “The Women of Italy,” 1826). This panel will investigate the sway of public opinion on the creation, production and reception of Italian literature. Was public opinion the most…[Read more]

Exoticisms and Their Italian Publics:   Often when Italy is part of the exoticism equation, Italians sit front and center as the exotic object of the subject-other’s (British, French, aristocratic, “enlightened”) gaze. This panel takes a different angle — it seeks to explore the various currents of 17th-18th-and 19th century exoticism as…[Read more]

Emotions in Ink: Sentiment, affection, passion, feelings… emotions: in literature, philosophy, religion, the arts, medicine. How were emotions rendered public through writings? How were displays of public emotions portrayed? Are emotions and writings about them gendered? We welcome papers that address these questions and others exploring the ro…[Read more]