Italian Vices
Nation and Character from the Risorgimento to the Republic

A fascinating study of national character in modern Italian history that sheds new light on Italian political culture.

Silvana Patriarca (Author)

9780521761017, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 21 January 2010

290 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.59 kg

"...timely and welcome contribution to the growing literature that studies the self-images of nations." -Adrian Lyttelton, The Journal of Modern History

Why do Italians believe that they have a national character and that this character is a major reason for their political woes? Why is their self-image so frequently derogatory? In this meticulous study of the role of national character in Italian political and social discourse, Silvana Patriarca reconstructs the genealogy of a pervasive idea in the culture of modern Italy. Using sources ranging from political pamphlets to newspapers and films, this book shows how self-representations of national character and its vices were shaped by foreign perceptions and stereotypes, internal political struggles, and changing intellectual paradigms. Investigating the politics of these representations, their ideological content, and their uses, the author recasts the study of Italian patriotism and nationalism as discourses and sheds light on Italian political culture and on the rhetoric of nationalism more generally.

Introduction
1. Indolence and regeneration
2. Making Italians of character
3. Latin individualism in the age of empire
4. Virtues of war: Italian character 'tested' and 'revealed'
5. 'A difficult substance to modify'
6. Autobiographies of the nation
7. Good people
8. 'Italians, that's the way they are'
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX], Social & cultural history [HBTB], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], European history [HBJD]