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The Advantages of ‘Demi‐Naturalization’: Mutual Perceptions of Britain and Italy in Hester Lynch Piozzi's Observations and Reflections Made in the Course of a Journey through France, Italy and Germany
Author(s) -
D'EZIO MARIANNA
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal for eighteenth‐century studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.129
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 1754-0208
pISSN - 1754-0194
DOI - 10.1111/j.1754-0208.2010.00275.x
Subject(s) - naturalization , pleasure , subjectivity , wife , narrative , romance , sociology , art , humanities , history , psychoanalysis , psychology , law , political science , literature , citizenship , philosophy , alien , epistemology , neuroscience , politics
In 1789 Hester Lynch Piozzi's Observations and Reflections Made in ... France, Italy, and Germany appeared in London. The subjectivity featuring in Piozzi's work offers an innovative and romantic version of the Grand Tour, narrated by a woman with an eye to publication. Sensations work as an emotional filter, through a spontaneous flow of personal reflections on Italy, and Piozzi's privileged position as the wife of an Italian – her ‘demi‐naturalization’– gave her an advantage over other British travellers and the freedom to go beyond the classical narrative of Italy and enjoy the pleasure of the unknown.