‘Barbaro è di costume, empio di fede’? Sul nativo americano nell’epica del Seicento

‘Barbaro è di costume, empio di fede’? About the Native American in seventeenth-Century EpicThe purpose of this article is to investigate the representation of Native Americans in seventeenth-century Italian epic by identifying two opposite ethical-literary approaches and connecting them to modern l...

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Main Author: Tancredi Artico
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: openjournals.nl 2017-10-01
Series:Incontri: Rivista Europea di Studi Italiani
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.rivista-incontri.nl/articles/10.18352/incontri.10190/
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author Tancredi Artico
author_facet Tancredi Artico
author_sort Tancredi Artico
collection DOAJ
description ‘Barbaro è di costume, empio di fede’? About the Native American in seventeenth-Century EpicThe purpose of this article is to investigate the representation of Native Americans in seventeenth-century Italian epic by identifying two opposite ethical-literary approaches and connecting them to modern literary theories on epic and imperialism. The first poem I examine, Tommaso Stigliani’s Mondo Nuovo, unites the ideology of Homer’s Iliad and of the Spanish Empire and gives a negative idea of the native, seen as a brute and unholy follower of Satan. The second poem, Girolamo Bartolomei’s America, is based on the scheme of the Odyssey and recalls the philanthropic theories of Bartolomé de Las Casas by emphasizing the original purity of Native Americans and describing its corruption through the brutality of the conquerors. This examination of the representation of the native thus argues that the ethical and political implications of the prevailing model in early modern epic, the Iliad, were countered by a (nowadays neglected) archetype, the Odyssey.
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spelling doaj.art-c9745f9611a346879f8ca9b6b1bad66c2022-12-21T17:25:51Zengopenjournals.nlIncontri: Rivista Europea di Studi Italiani2214-77052017-10-0132151610.18352/incontri.101909843‘Barbaro è di costume, empio di fede’? Sul nativo americano nell’epica del SeicentoTancredi Artico‘Barbaro è di costume, empio di fede’? About the Native American in seventeenth-Century EpicThe purpose of this article is to investigate the representation of Native Americans in seventeenth-century Italian epic by identifying two opposite ethical-literary approaches and connecting them to modern literary theories on epic and imperialism. The first poem I examine, Tommaso Stigliani’s Mondo Nuovo, unites the ideology of Homer’s Iliad and of the Spanish Empire and gives a negative idea of the native, seen as a brute and unholy follower of Satan. The second poem, Girolamo Bartolomei’s America, is based on the scheme of the Odyssey and recalls the philanthropic theories of Bartolomé de Las Casas by emphasizing the original purity of Native Americans and describing its corruption through the brutality of the conquerors. This examination of the representation of the native thus argues that the ethical and political implications of the prevailing model in early modern epic, the Iliad, were countered by a (nowadays neglected) archetype, the Odyssey.http://www.rivista-incontri.nl/articles/10.18352/incontri.10190/Odissea, generi letterari, nativo, tolleranza, colonialismo
spellingShingle Tancredi Artico
‘Barbaro è di costume, empio di fede’? Sul nativo americano nell’epica del Seicento
Incontri: Rivista Europea di Studi Italiani
Odissea, generi letterari, nativo, tolleranza, colonialismo
title ‘Barbaro è di costume, empio di fede’? Sul nativo americano nell’epica del Seicento
title_full ‘Barbaro è di costume, empio di fede’? Sul nativo americano nell’epica del Seicento
title_fullStr ‘Barbaro è di costume, empio di fede’? Sul nativo americano nell’epica del Seicento
title_full_unstemmed ‘Barbaro è di costume, empio di fede’? Sul nativo americano nell’epica del Seicento
title_short ‘Barbaro è di costume, empio di fede’? Sul nativo americano nell’epica del Seicento
title_sort barbaro e di costume empio di fede sul nativo americano nell epica del seicento
topic Odissea, generi letterari, nativo, tolleranza, colonialismo
url http://www.rivista-incontri.nl/articles/10.18352/incontri.10190/
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