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Books by Valeria Taddei
Epiphanies in the Modernist Short Story: Italian and English Perspectives, 2024
The poetics of epiphany have long been recognised as a broad aesthetic trend of modernism, relate... more The poetics of epiphany have long been recognised as a broad aesthetic trend of modernism, related to the power of art to reveal the hidden essence of reality. Yet the critical use of the concept is still contested, complicated by the fact that in many modernist works exceptional moments are anything but revealing. This book embraces the blurred nature of epiphanies and sets out to explore their effects in a comparative journey paralleling Anglophone and Italian modernist short fiction. The work of four modernist short story writers – Luigi Pirandello, James Joyce, Federigo Tozzi, and Katherine Mansfield – illuminates epiphanies as complex phenomena, connected to multiple aspects of modernist culture, which appear in artistic experiences developed independently in the same decades. The ideas of Henri Bergson, William James, Martin Heidegger, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, among others, nuance our understanding of the stories and of the author's vision behind them. At least three threads emerge, as a result, as common characteristics of modernist epiphanies. First, they are a result of the ‘inward turn’ and of the curiosity about the psyche’s subconscious processes. Second, they attempt to rediscover lived experience as a source of partial but reliable knowledge. Third, they re-actualise mystical experiences as conduits to a secular insight about life. The main appeal of these modernist moments of enlightenment is precisely that they establish an atmosphere of ambiguity where multiple and sometimes irreconcilable potential meanings can be found. By so doing, they succeed in evoking the undifferentiated creative potential that, according to the widespread vitalist philosophies of the age, constitutes the essence of life. In reframing ambiguity and indeterminacy as spaces of creation and choice, epiphanies thus bring out a lesser known, life-affirming but not naïve vein of modernist inspiration.
Articles by Valeria Taddei
The modernist age in Europe (1890s-1930s) is often regarded as a time of spiritual crisis, yet at... more The modernist age in Europe (1890s-1930s) is often regarded as a time of spiritual crisis, yet at the outset of the twentieth century religious sentiment enjoyed a renewed attention fostered by contemporary science. William James’s The Varieties of Religious Experience (1901–02) proposed a study of religious feeling in a modern psychological perspective that became widely known in England and beyond. This paper considers the substantial affinities between James’s description of religious experiences and the critically accepted definition of literary epiphany, suggesting that his work might have inspired the way in which some modernists across Europe conceived and portrayed their ecstatic moments. Two case studies, from the Anglophone author Katherine Mansfield and the Italian Federigo Tozzi, are considered in close reading. Finally, a reflection is proposed about how James’s conclusions can illuminate some important reasons for the popularity of epiphanies in modernist times. Reader...
MHRA Working Papers in the Humanities, 13, 2018
The modernist age in Europe (1890s-1930s) is often regarded as a time of spiritual crisis, yet at... more The modernist age in Europe (1890s-1930s) is often regarded as a time of spiritual crisis, yet at the outset of the twentieth century religious sentiment enjoyed a renewed attention fostered by contemporary science. William James’s The Varieties of Religious Experience (1901–02) proposed a study of religious feeling in a modern psychological perspective that became widely known in England and beyond. This paper considers the substantial affinities between James’s description of religious experiences and the critically accepted definition of literary epiphany, suggesting that his work might have inspired the way in which some modernists across Europe conceived and portrayed their ecstatic moments. Two case studies, from the Anglophone author Katherine Mansfield and the Italian Federigo Tozzi, are considered in close reading. Finally, a reflection is proposed about how James’s conclusions can illuminate some important reasons for the popularity of epiphanies in modernist times.
Taylor Editions. Digital Editions of European Texts, 2018
This is a facsimile, transcription, and English translation of Tozzi, Federigo, "Marito e Moglie"... more This is a facsimile, transcription, and English translation of Tozzi, Federigo, "Marito e Moglie" (1920). The transcription and translation were encoded in TEI P5 XML by Valeria Taddei as part of the Taylor Digital Editions project.
“Marito e moglie” is part of "Giovani" [Youth], the only collection of short stories edited by Tozzi in his lifetime. However, it was not included in the first Anglophone anthology of his stories (F. Tozzi, "Love in Vain", translated by Minna Proctor, New York: New Directions, 2001). This is therefore, to the best of the editor's knowledge, its first English translation. It is hoped that the availability of this brief text online alongside the present translation will contribute to making Tozzi’s writing more accessible and better known.
Pirandello Studies, 37, 2017
"Federigo Tozzi in Europa – Influssi culturali e convergenze artistiche", a cura di Riccardo Castellana e Ilaria De Seta, Carocci, Roma, 2017
Conference Presentations by Valeria Taddei
Book Reviews by Valeria Taddei
Travels and Translations, 2013
OCCT Review [online], 13 February, 2017
Events Organised by Valeria Taddei
International Conference at University College Dublin, 8-9 December 2023
Papers by Valeria Taddei
This data set consists of 6 image files in TIFF format, and two XML files. These files were creat... more This data set consists of 6 image files in TIFF format, and two XML files. These files were created as part of a Digital Editions course, run by the Taylor Institution Library, during Trinity Term 2018. The course required participants to create a digitised version of a printed text. This text is 6 pages from Tozzi, Federigo, (1961). "Marito e Moglie" in Opere . Edited by Tozzi, Glauco. Firenze: Vallecchi, held by the Taylor Institution Library (shelf mark: REP.I.5445(2)). The images of the original text were created using a digital camera and then converted to TIFF format using GIMP. The XML files included here contain an encoded transcription of the original text, and its English translation, both created and edited using Oxygen XML Editor, according to Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) guidelines
Thesis by Valeria Taddei
This thesis reconsiders the phenomenon of literary epiphany in the early twentieth-century short ... more This thesis reconsiders the phenomenon of literary epiphany in the early twentieth-century short story by comparing its occurrence in the work of four Italian and Anglophone authors: Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936), James Joyce (1882-1941), Federigo Tozzi (1883-1920), and Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923). The decentred perspective allowed by this transnational comparison illuminates epiphanies as complex phenomena connected to multiple aspects of modernist culture. ‘Epiphany’ is considered here as a ‘blurred’ category of literary criticism, based on a family resemblance between independent artistic experiences developed in the same decades. Each author’s idea and use of epiphanies is considered separately, but within a common theoretical frame that brings out peculiarities and recurring themes. At least three common threads emerge, as a result, as general characteristics of modernist epiphanies. First, they participate in a phenomenological attempt to rediscover lived experience as a source of partial but reliable knowledge. Second, they are a result of the ‘inward turn’ and of the curiosity for the psyche’s deeper regions that are manifested through the logic of emotions. Third, they re-actualise mystical experiences as conduits to an authoritative insight that relies on unconscious structures to achieve a comprehensive view of life. The main appeal of these moments of enlightenment is precisely their lack of specificity. Far from revealing a truth, they establish an atmosphere of ambiguity where multiple and even contradictory interpretations are possible. By so doing, they succeed in evoking the undifferentiated creative potential that, according to the widespread vitalist philosophies of the age, constitutes the ultimate essence of life. In reframing ambiguity and indeterminacy as spaces of creation and choice, epiphanies thus bring out a lesser known, life-affirming but not naïve vein of modernist inspiration
Epiphanies in the Modernist Short Story: Italian and English Perspectives, 2024
The poetics of epiphany have long been recognised as a broad aesthetic trend of modernism, relate... more The poetics of epiphany have long been recognised as a broad aesthetic trend of modernism, related to the power of art to reveal the hidden essence of reality. Yet the critical use of the concept is still contested, complicated by the fact that in many modernist works exceptional moments are anything but revealing. This book embraces the blurred nature of epiphanies and sets out to explore their effects in a comparative journey paralleling Anglophone and Italian modernist short fiction. The work of four modernist short story writers – Luigi Pirandello, James Joyce, Federigo Tozzi, and Katherine Mansfield – illuminates epiphanies as complex phenomena, connected to multiple aspects of modernist culture, which appear in artistic experiences developed independently in the same decades. The ideas of Henri Bergson, William James, Martin Heidegger, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, among others, nuance our understanding of the stories and of the author's vision behind them. At least three threads emerge, as a result, as common characteristics of modernist epiphanies. First, they are a result of the ‘inward turn’ and of the curiosity about the psyche’s subconscious processes. Second, they attempt to rediscover lived experience as a source of partial but reliable knowledge. Third, they re-actualise mystical experiences as conduits to a secular insight about life. The main appeal of these modernist moments of enlightenment is precisely that they establish an atmosphere of ambiguity where multiple and sometimes irreconcilable potential meanings can be found. By so doing, they succeed in evoking the undifferentiated creative potential that, according to the widespread vitalist philosophies of the age, constitutes the essence of life. In reframing ambiguity and indeterminacy as spaces of creation and choice, epiphanies thus bring out a lesser known, life-affirming but not naïve vein of modernist inspiration.
The modernist age in Europe (1890s-1930s) is often regarded as a time of spiritual crisis, yet at... more The modernist age in Europe (1890s-1930s) is often regarded as a time of spiritual crisis, yet at the outset of the twentieth century religious sentiment enjoyed a renewed attention fostered by contemporary science. William James’s The Varieties of Religious Experience (1901–02) proposed a study of religious feeling in a modern psychological perspective that became widely known in England and beyond. This paper considers the substantial affinities between James’s description of religious experiences and the critically accepted definition of literary epiphany, suggesting that his work might have inspired the way in which some modernists across Europe conceived and portrayed their ecstatic moments. Two case studies, from the Anglophone author Katherine Mansfield and the Italian Federigo Tozzi, are considered in close reading. Finally, a reflection is proposed about how James’s conclusions can illuminate some important reasons for the popularity of epiphanies in modernist times. Reader...
MHRA Working Papers in the Humanities, 13, 2018
The modernist age in Europe (1890s-1930s) is often regarded as a time of spiritual crisis, yet at... more The modernist age in Europe (1890s-1930s) is often regarded as a time of spiritual crisis, yet at the outset of the twentieth century religious sentiment enjoyed a renewed attention fostered by contemporary science. William James’s The Varieties of Religious Experience (1901–02) proposed a study of religious feeling in a modern psychological perspective that became widely known in England and beyond. This paper considers the substantial affinities between James’s description of religious experiences and the critically accepted definition of literary epiphany, suggesting that his work might have inspired the way in which some modernists across Europe conceived and portrayed their ecstatic moments. Two case studies, from the Anglophone author Katherine Mansfield and the Italian Federigo Tozzi, are considered in close reading. Finally, a reflection is proposed about how James’s conclusions can illuminate some important reasons for the popularity of epiphanies in modernist times.
Taylor Editions. Digital Editions of European Texts, 2018
This is a facsimile, transcription, and English translation of Tozzi, Federigo, "Marito e Moglie"... more This is a facsimile, transcription, and English translation of Tozzi, Federigo, "Marito e Moglie" (1920). The transcription and translation were encoded in TEI P5 XML by Valeria Taddei as part of the Taylor Digital Editions project.
“Marito e moglie” is part of "Giovani" [Youth], the only collection of short stories edited by Tozzi in his lifetime. However, it was not included in the first Anglophone anthology of his stories (F. Tozzi, "Love in Vain", translated by Minna Proctor, New York: New Directions, 2001). This is therefore, to the best of the editor's knowledge, its first English translation. It is hoped that the availability of this brief text online alongside the present translation will contribute to making Tozzi’s writing more accessible and better known.
Pirandello Studies, 37, 2017
"Federigo Tozzi in Europa – Influssi culturali e convergenze artistiche", a cura di Riccardo Castellana e Ilaria De Seta, Carocci, Roma, 2017
Travels and Translations, 2013
OCCT Review [online], 13 February, 2017
International Conference at University College Dublin, 8-9 December 2023
This data set consists of 6 image files in TIFF format, and two XML files. These files were creat... more This data set consists of 6 image files in TIFF format, and two XML files. These files were created as part of a Digital Editions course, run by the Taylor Institution Library, during Trinity Term 2018. The course required participants to create a digitised version of a printed text. This text is 6 pages from Tozzi, Federigo, (1961). "Marito e Moglie" in Opere . Edited by Tozzi, Glauco. Firenze: Vallecchi, held by the Taylor Institution Library (shelf mark: REP.I.5445(2)). The images of the original text were created using a digital camera and then converted to TIFF format using GIMP. The XML files included here contain an encoded transcription of the original text, and its English translation, both created and edited using Oxygen XML Editor, according to Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) guidelines
This thesis reconsiders the phenomenon of literary epiphany in the early twentieth-century short ... more This thesis reconsiders the phenomenon of literary epiphany in the early twentieth-century short story by comparing its occurrence in the work of four Italian and Anglophone authors: Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936), James Joyce (1882-1941), Federigo Tozzi (1883-1920), and Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923). The decentred perspective allowed by this transnational comparison illuminates epiphanies as complex phenomena connected to multiple aspects of modernist culture. ‘Epiphany’ is considered here as a ‘blurred’ category of literary criticism, based on a family resemblance between independent artistic experiences developed in the same decades. Each author’s idea and use of epiphanies is considered separately, but within a common theoretical frame that brings out peculiarities and recurring themes. At least three common threads emerge, as a result, as general characteristics of modernist epiphanies. First, they participate in a phenomenological attempt to rediscover lived experience as a source of partial but reliable knowledge. Second, they are a result of the ‘inward turn’ and of the curiosity for the psyche’s deeper regions that are manifested through the logic of emotions. Third, they re-actualise mystical experiences as conduits to an authoritative insight that relies on unconscious structures to achieve a comprehensive view of life. The main appeal of these moments of enlightenment is precisely their lack of specificity. Far from revealing a truth, they establish an atmosphere of ambiguity where multiple and even contradictory interpretations are possible. By so doing, they succeed in evoking the undifferentiated creative potential that, according to the widespread vitalist philosophies of the age, constitutes the ultimate essence of life. In reframing ambiguity and indeterminacy as spaces of creation and choice, epiphanies thus bring out a lesser known, life-affirming but not naïve vein of modernist inspiration