A European version of Victorian fiction : the novels of Giovanni Ruffini
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
A European version of Victorian fiction : the novels of Giovanni Ruffini
(Textxet : studies in comparative literature, 7)
Rodopi, 1996
Available at 1 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [165]-171) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
In this first systematic assessment of Ruffini's literary achievement, the seven novels that are apparently so different from each other emerge as an aesthetically coherent and individualized contribution to the mid-Victorian fictional canon. Composed in English by an Italian exile resident in Paris, they describe interactions among men and women of many nationalities and trace interesting European journeys and pilgrimages during the early days of mass tourism. While thus documenting such phenomena as expanding rail networks, holiday resorts and health spas, the novels dramatize, more importantly, the inadequacy of narrowly local and intolerant perspectives. The protagonists must gain a broadly cosmopolitan vision and sense of mutuality as they pursue the common quest for self-integration and for a purpose in life. A patriotic commitment like that which had engaged Ruffini in his youthful Mazzinian phase cannot now offer that purpose, and the narratives convey strong scepticism about other ideals, such as romantic love, too. More positively the stories contain many dedicated physicians, who practice a holistic medicine and who thereby substitute for the often sinister priests of a corrupt religious establishment. Ministering to the humanity that Ruffini typically portrays as sick or wounded and tormented by misanthropy and guilt, they are the chief mitigators of the bleakness of the modern condition.
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