Conclusion

Abstract

It is a commonly held belief that Carlo Linati almost single-handedly paved the way for Irish literature in Italy at the start of the twentieth century. While his role as a mediator was certainly crucial, this book has argued that a much more complex network of irlandesisti was involved in importing Irish literature and culture into Italy, both laying the groundwork for, and complementing, Carlo Linati’s discoverta. Mediators such as Borsa, Buonaiuti, OʼRiordan, Hagan, Joyce, Dàuli, Valera, Fienga, Pellizzi, Rossi, Pascazio, Bragaglia, and Ridenti belonged to very diverse milieus (Catholic modernism, journalism, politics, literature, theater) and had different statuses and often conflicting aims in mind, as well as different concepts of Ireland (Catholic, Gaelic, Anglo-Irish, colonial, socialist, proto-Fascist, and so forth), which they therefore depicted in various, often incompatible, ways. This book has investigated the discourses on Irishness in early twentieth-century Italy. This exploration has primarily compared the political, cultural, and literary discourses in order to make sense of the dynamics governing their interactions. Some key differences have emerged, which translated into different roles for Irishness in Italy during the timeframe under consideration. While political discourses were more prone to foregrounding the antagonism between England and Ireland, literary mediators were more at pains to distinguish two traditions that had been, were, and still partially are so tightly bound. Despite a few exceptions, one of the most apparent developments was the growing reliance of Italian irlandesisti on the image of the vigorous and masculine Gael slowly replacing the melancholy and feminine Celt. Perhaps more importantly, most mediators were reliant on essentialistic and monologic notions of national character. We have seen the effect of this on the reception of literature, when traits typically associated with Ireland were indisputably transmitted, and informed the construction of the literary canon of Irish writing for domestic audiences. The link between Irish literature and the nationalist sentiment of Irish people, for instance, was so commonplace in early 1940s Italy that Anton Giulio Bragaglia replied to Gian Dàuli’s offer of a stage adaptation of Donn Byrne’s Blind Raftery and his wife, Hilaria in these terms: