Byron and the Rhetoric of Italian Nationalism

SUMMARY: Making extensive use of untranslated texts,Byron and the Rhetoric of Italian Nationalism analyzes the incorporation of Byron’s life and works into Italian political discourse during the risorgimento, unification, and the two world wars. Italian authors appreciated his celebration of liberty and nationalism so much that between 1818 and 1948, they referred to Byron more than to any other non-Italian poet. Arnold Anthony Schmidt explores the intellectual milieu of Byron’s Italian years, his participation in Grand Tour and salon culture, his influence on Italian Classicists and Romantics, and his importance in constructing Italy’s national identity.

PRAISE: “Schmidt's book shows with impressive detail and thorough argument that the mythical image of Byron was as important to the development of the Italian nationalist ideal as it had been to the Greek. From Pellico via Cavour and Garibaldi to (whisper it) Mussolini himself, Byron's preparedness to sacrifice himself for Italian freedom and nationhood was an example to them all. A tour-de-force of documentation and analysis.”—Peter Cochran, Cambridge

“Schmidt’s Byron and the Rhetoric of Italian Nationalism is a fascinating and expertly-researched addition to our understanding of Byron not just as a British Romantic poet but as an international cultural phenomenon. Positioning Byron in the context of European liberal nationalism, Schmidt demonstrates how although in Britain Byron’s scandalous lifestyle and provocative writings tended to overshadow his liberal leanings, in Italy he became an inspiration to the emergent nationalist movement…The book will be of value not just to Byron scholars but to anyone interested in the cultural impact of Romanticism.”—Clare A. Simmons, Department of English, The Ohio State University

"Arnold Anthony Schmidt’s Byron and the Rhetoric of Italian Nationalism goes a long way toward elucidating the many aspects of Byron’s immersion in Italian life. As much social and cultural history as literary criticism, it manifests an impressive range of reading and allusions . . . Historical and contextual scholarship at its best.”—Wordsworth Circle

BIOGRAPHY: Arnold Anthony Schmidt is Professor of English at the California State University, Stanislaus. His articles on Byron, Conrad, Godwin, Scott, Mary Shelley, and Wordsworth have appeared in such venues as the Byron Journal, Journal of Anglo-Italian Studies, Nineteenth-Century Contexts, and The Wordsworth Circle, as well as in the anthologies Fictions of the Sea and Beyond the Roots: The Evolution of Conrad’s Ideology & Art.