PhD students 2nd cohort

Paula Kitzinger (born 1992) completed her Bachelor’s degree in Romance languages and literature (major in French) and political science in 2015. From 2015 to 2017, she did a Master’s programme in “Romance Cultures in the Modern World”, focusing on “Mediterranean studies”. After her degree, she worked for the Thüringer Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Jena, (the state and university library); furthermore, she translated literary texts for the foundation Schloss Friedenstein Gotha.

Patria and narration – The Italian Nation in post-romantic prose

The thesis deals with the introduction of the themes of nation and homeland in the Italian narrative from the second the half of the 19th Century and their continuity into contemporary literature. The assumption is that cultural workers were fundamental in supporting social and political change during this period in Italy. The thesis, therefore, aims to investigate five literary works written during the period from 1859 to 2013. In doing so, the question of the Italian nation´s status quo and its perception by some authors of diverse political-ideological orientations will be considered. The thesis will assess the preconditions, motivations and the means with which questions of homeland and socio-political context find space in the Italian literary tradition.

A primary focus will be on the concept of Patria, which variates temporally and spatially and which can be identified as a literary figuration and interpretation of the allegory of the young nation. While the authors who got involved in with the unification of the kingdom during the Risorgimento (1815-1870) drafted a positive image of the country – a symbol for national identification -, the perception of the Italian Nation became detectably and increasingly resigned and fragmented after the unification of 1860/61. After both World Wars and the experiences of fascism and the `Resistenza´, Italy is still confronted with unstable governments, regionalistic tendencies and a marked contrast between the North and the South. The doctoral project will examine how these phenomena are reflected in and throughout literature and how, through means of form, content and rhetoric, authors like Ippolito Nievo, Beppe Fenoglio or Salvatore Satta articulate their position in the Italian nation’s discourse.

Articles

„Narrare la patria – Form und Funktion von patria bei Carlo Mazzantini und Enrico Deaglio“, in: Hertrampf, Marina Ortrud M. (Hg.): Heimat – patrie/patria. (Re-) Konstruktion und Erneuerung im Kontext von Globalisierung und Migration, München 2020: AVM, S. 213-230

Varia

„Entzauberung im Wanderschritt: der Novalisweg in Jena“ in: FAZ.NET, 22.09.2020