Nestes ensaios, Ginzburg está preocupado em entender o peculiar regime de trocas literárias e culturais entre as ilhas britânicas e o continente europeu. Para isso, cruza o canal da Mancha para investigar a influência de Montaigne nas polêmicas poéticas elisabetanas; esmiúça os possíveis vínculos entre o Tristram Shandy de Sterne e as idéias de Pierre Bayle; navega entre os arquipélagos do Pacífico na companhia do escritor Robert Louis Stevenson e do etnógrafo Bronislaw Malinowski; zarpa da pátria de Thomas More rumo à ilha imaginária de Utopia - sempre dando prova de absoluto domínio da arte do ensaio e de uma inesgotável curiosidade intelectual.
Born in 1939, he is the son of of Italian-Ukranian translator Leone Ginzburg and Italian writer Natalia Ginzburg. Historian whose fields of interest range from the Italian Renaissance to early modern European History, with contributions in art history, literary studies, popular cultural beliefs, and the theory of historiography.
I saw a copy of No Island Is an Island at HPB, and was curious, so I snagged one at the library. It's a book of essays on four time periods and/or pieces from English literature.
The first is on More's Utopia and how it was influenced by the classical author Lucian. Yes, we're back to my ignorance of classical literature again. For that matter, I've never read all of Utopia, though I've started it and not been able to keep going. So this was interesting but not something I could fully relate to.
The second was much more interesting; it was about Elizabethan views of poetry, and it quoted Roger Ascham and Philip Sidney. It also included references to Florio's work, which made me smile. It discusses the tension between the English and the Italians during this time. Interestingly, sometimes this tension took the form of a debate over which was superior: poetry that rhymed, or poetry that didn't rhyme. Yep, that's apparently an old argument. ;) Naturally, there were appeals to classical times, and claims that the best and oldest poetry didn't rhyme, and that rhyming poetry was only introduced into classical culture when German tribes invaded Italy. (This may or may not be true. I don't know enough to say for sure.)
The third, well, I've never even tried to read Tristram Shandy, so it didn't mean very much to me.
The fourth was about Robert Louis Stevenson. I haven't read the particular short story that it focussed on ("The Bottle Imp"), but the nature of the essay made it unnecessary. (Also, Kage Baker's work has given me a bit of a soft spot for RLS.)
Part exploration and part exercise, the interrelated mapping of 'mindscapes' by Ginzburg reminiscent of the Cheese and the Worms continues in these four essays strung together in nonlinear entirely readable fashion. Being no scholar and only vaguely familiar with most of thinkers/works he trots through (Erasmus, Tristram Shandy, Bronislav Malinowski), and therefor despite a host of subtleties that probably flew over my head, Carlo remains accessible and rewarding to anyone willing to put in the work. A background knowledge of current medieval scholarship or of latin would probably have increased my appreciation of the first two essays; however as I sallied forth in the second half Sr. Carlo really starts spinning well-conceived webs for himself to disentangle, and by the finish I was left with the kind of complex and nuanced intellectual enjoyment analagous to reflecting on the totality of a journey's experiences opposed to its singular parts.
A wonderful and fascinating dive into the depths of Tristram Shandy, Utopia, The Bottle Imp and more, in a way that is challenging for all close readers of masterpieces of literature. The joy of reading this small but very deep book is learning about the possibilities of connections between art, history, literature and more. A treasure trove for those interested in the life of the mind.