Un roman sur et pour l'Italie: une analyse de la réception de Corinne par le monde culturel italien

The purpose of this article is to highlight and discuss the impact of Germaine de Staël's novel Corinne (1807) on early nineteenth-century literary debates in Italy. In particular, this essay intends to investigate the reception of the novel by the Italian intelligentsia in an era of major cultural and political change. Influential in raising national consciousness in Italy, Corinne became widely popular and controversial among Italian hommes de lettres, sparking philosophical and literary debates about the very nature of Italian literature. In this regard, this article devotes particular attention to two eminent literary figures: Ugo Foscolo (1778–1827) and Giacomo Leopardi (1798–1837). While the former particularly focuses on the interrelationship of literature and institutions, the latter develops a remarkably fecund intellectual dialogue with Staël's writings, citing Corinne as one of the primary causes of his philosophical conversion. (In French)