1930S SHANGHAI AND BEIJING : DESCRIPTIONS OF THREE ITALIAN WRITERS : GIOVANNI COMISSO, MARIO APPELIUS AND ALBERTO MORAVIA三十年代的上海和北京：三位意大利作家－科米索、阿佩里烏斯和莫拉維爾的敘述
The article examines how three Italian writers—Giovanni Comisso, Mario Appelius, and Alberto Moravia—constructed contrasting images of Shanghai and Beijing for the Italian public in the 1930s. The central thesis argues that, within the span of little more than a decade, their narratives reveal a rap...
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| Published in: | Review of Culture |
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| Format: | Articles |
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Instituto Cultural de Macau
April 2010
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| Online Access: | https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40034/3544 |
| Summary: | The article examines how three Italian writers—Giovanni Comisso, Mario Appelius, and Alberto Moravia—constructed contrasting images of Shanghai and Beijing for the Italian public in the 1930s. The central thesis argues that, within the span of little more than a decade, their narratives reveal a rapid transformation of the “mental framework” regarding China: from the exoticizing fascination and reception oscillating between praise and rejection in Comisso, to the descriptive curiosity guided by urban wandering in Appelius, and finally to the moral accountability and critical effort by Moravia to overcome stereotypes.
Methodologically, the author undertakes a comparative reading of journalistic and travel texts produced by these correspondents, articulating discursive strategies (tone, focalization, lexical choices, and interpretive schemas) with distinct political-intellectual contexts. In this way, the article examines how each author negotiates the “cultural other” and the degree of mediation between on-site experience and prior repertoires.
The conclusion is that the three descriptions, although heterogeneous, not only inform about urban scenarios and living conditions but also function as indicators of the maturation of the European gaze upon China, progressively approaching a more reflexive and “scientific” stance vis-à-vis nineteenth-century clichés. |
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| ISSN: | 1682-1106 |