Papers by Luca Brezzo
Analisi Linguistica e Letteraria, 2018
Within Catherine Gore’s vast literary corpus there is an uncharacteristic novel titled Adventures... more Within Catherine Gore’s vast literary corpus there is an uncharacteristic novel titled Adventures in Borneo: A Tale of a Shipwreck (1849), in which the author experiments with exotic settings and adventures, a fictional subgenre in which she is not entirely comfortable. In the period of its publication, the British press was reporting and commenting on the controversial events involving Sir James Brooke, the White Rajah of Sarawak, and his anti-piracy campaign in the waters of the Malay Archipelago. In this article I try to investigate Gore’s take on such a delicate topic as British conduct in remote foreign lands, vis-à-vis alien cultures; I also refer to one of her unpublished letters, as well as to Brooke’s journal published in 1846 – most likely her primary source for the socio-cultural information on the Borneo population deployed in the novel. This article also seeks to contribute to the critical-literary debate over Catherine Gore providing a starting point for a more thorough study of her attitude towards British colonialism.
Quaderni di Palazzo Serra, 2016
Catherine Gore's key role in the transition from late Romantic silver-fork fiction to the full-fl... more Catherine Gore's key role in the transition from late Romantic silver-fork fiction to the full-fledged Victorian novel and her influence on well-known Victorian writers has received little attention. The aim of this paper is to underscore some hitherto unacknowledged points of contact between Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford (1853) and North and South (1855), and Gore's The Hamiltons (1834), by highlighting significant passages and scenes. Gore's and Gaskell's representation of the snobbery of rural English society and of its stubbornness in the face of progress, their take on riotous mobs protesting against social injustice, and their support of middle-class domesticity, are shown to be strikingly similar.
Conference Presentations by Luca Brezzo
As a fictional subgenre, silver-fork (or fashionable) fiction – at its apex during the 1820s and ... more As a fictional subgenre, silver-fork (or fashionable) fiction – at its apex during the 1820s and the 1830s – was poised between fawning admiration of the upper classes, and criticism of their life-style and mannerisms. The descriptions of high life in such novels constituted, therefore, both a model of social behaviour, a handbook for the nouveaux riches, and a medium for social satire. As a consequence, the fascinating excesses and extravagances of the aristocracy are generally represented as in need of some sort of discipline and moderation, especially in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 1825, when attempts had been made to restructure the British financial system, and new, less voluptuous styles of consumption were encouraged – as attested by Queen Adelaide’s ‘Buy British’ Campaign in 1830.
The early works of Catherine Gore (one of the wittiest and most prolific British authors of the nineteenth century) were attuned to this new economic and moral climate. In my paper I shall focus on her second fashionable novel Pin-Money (1831), a female Bildungsroman, where luxury consumption, gambling, exclusive parties organized in London and in country estates are associated with vice and excess, which lead weak, naïve and inexperienced individuals, very often female, to unforeseen and undesirable consequences. The leading characters in Pin-Money, a prodigal fine lady and her husband, succeed in atoning for their excesses by finding the right moral balance in a more measured and prudent domestic life.
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Papers by Luca Brezzo
Conference Presentations by Luca Brezzo
The early works of Catherine Gore (one of the wittiest and most prolific British authors of the nineteenth century) were attuned to this new economic and moral climate. In my paper I shall focus on her second fashionable novel Pin-Money (1831), a female Bildungsroman, where luxury consumption, gambling, exclusive parties organized in London and in country estates are associated with vice and excess, which lead weak, naïve and inexperienced individuals, very often female, to unforeseen and undesirable consequences. The leading characters in Pin-Money, a prodigal fine lady and her husband, succeed in atoning for their excesses by finding the right moral balance in a more measured and prudent domestic life.
The early works of Catherine Gore (one of the wittiest and most prolific British authors of the nineteenth century) were attuned to this new economic and moral climate. In my paper I shall focus on her second fashionable novel Pin-Money (1831), a female Bildungsroman, where luxury consumption, gambling, exclusive parties organized in London and in country estates are associated with vice and excess, which lead weak, naïve and inexperienced individuals, very often female, to unforeseen and undesirable consequences. The leading characters in Pin-Money, a prodigal fine lady and her husband, succeed in atoning for their excesses by finding the right moral balance in a more measured and prudent domestic life.