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80 Colace.Pdf UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia Corso di Laurea in Lingue e Letterature Straniere Moderne ELIZABETH INCHBALD: DRAMMATURGA, ROMANZIERA E CRITICA TRA TRADIZIONE E SPERIMENTAZIONE Tesi di Laurea di Barbara COLACE Matricola Nº. 402931 Relatore: Chiar.ma Prof.ssa Margaret ROSE Correlatore: Chiar.ma Prof.ssa Anna ANZI Anno Accademico 1997/1998 INDICE - Premessa 4 - Introduzione 5 - Capitolo I. Elizabeth Inchbald: una vita per il teatro 6 I.1. Una spettatrice entusiasta 6 I. 2. Dalla platea alle tavole del palcoscenico 8 I. 3. L'esordio come autrice teatrale I. 3. 1. Elizabeth Inchbald e la drammaturgia femminile del XVIII secolo 10 I. 4. Dall'esordio al successo 11 I. 5. Elizabeth Inchbald e il romanzo femminile del XVIII secolo 15 I. 6. Una scrittrice a tutto tondo: l'attività critica di Elizabeth Inchbald 36 - Capitolo II. A Simple Story, un contributo al dibattito "femminista" 40 II. 1. Genesi del romanzo 40 II. 2. Elementi storico-biografici del romanzo 44 II. 3. Miss Milner: un'eroina scomoda 48 II. 3. 1. L'irriverenza e il sarcasmo come sfida al patriarcato 49 II. 3. 2. Il fidanzamento come terreno di sfida 57 II. 4. Matilda e "l'importanza di una proper education" 67 - Capitolo III. A Simple Story un romanzo "teatrale" 81 III. 1. A Simple Story: "a work completely dramatic” 81 III. 2. Miss Milner e Miss Dorillon: due eroine "formed of the same matter and spirit" 91 III. 3. “A Simple Winter's Story” 100 III. 3. 1. Una storia invernale, forse 100 III. 3. 2. Il Tempo 101 III. 3. 3. Padri tirannici e vittime innocenti 104 III. 3. 4. La dignità esemplare delle madri 107 - Capitolo IV. Nature and Art: evoluzione giacobina delle tematiche “umanitarie” della drammaturgia inchbaldiana 110 IV. 1. Le commedie "umanitarie” di Elizabeth Inchbald 110 IV. 2. Costrizioni della composizione drammatica 120 IV. 3. Origine e sviluppo di Nature and Art nei turbolenti anni post-rivoluzionari 123 IV. 4. Nature and Art, romanzo à la Rousseau? 128 IV. 5. Oltre "l'umanitarismo” delle commedie sentimentali 132 IV. 6. La vicenda di Hannah, amara denuncia della condizione femminile 140 - Conclusione 149 - Indice delle tavole 152 - Bibliografia 154 PREMESSA Avvicinarsi al mondo letterario inglese tardo settecentesco attraverso la figura di Elizabeth Inchbald è stata un'esperienza nuova e, da un certo punto di vista, spiazzante; grazie ai testi di Inchbald e delle innumerevoli scrittrici coeve ho difatti scoperto un mondo del quale ignoravo non tanto l'esistenza quanto il valore. Durante gli anni di formazione universitaria ho avuto l'opportunità di studiare l'evoluzione della letteratura britannica del diciottesimo secolo tramite l'analisi approfondita dei romanzi e delle opere teatrali dei maggiori autori britannici, ma sulla scrittura al femminile di quell'epoca non avevo appreso molto; i testi di critica letteraria includevano solo di rado dei paragrafi dedicati a questa realtà, inoltre essa veniva trattata sbrigativamente e descritta in maniera tutt'altro che invitante: le opere letterarie delle scrittrici del XVIII secolo venivano etichettate come esempi di una paraletteratura o tacciate di vacuo e lacrimoso sentimentalismo. Esaminando i testi di Inchbald, e andando avanti nella ricerca a quelli di altre scrittrici settecentesche, mi sono resa conto di quanto fosse inadeguata questa valutazione e di quanto invece fosse ricco quel, per me nuovo, universo; al principio di questo percorso di ricerca scelsi di accostarmi alle opere di Elizabeth Inchbald in maniera diretta, senza filtri che potessero influenzare le mie prime impressioni, rimandando perciò ad un secondo tempo l'esame dei lavori critici su questa autrice quasi ignota. Leggendo A Simple Story e Nature and Art rimasi piuttosto sorpresa: non solo si trattava di opere letterarie qualitativamente alte e niente affatto svenevoli, ma esse contenevano tematiche e argomentazioni inaspettatamente coraggiose; in questi componimenti avevo colto una portata “rivoluzionaria” di cui però nei saggi di James Boaden, S. R. Littlewood, William McKee o Roger Manvell non ho trovato traccia. I nomi citati corrispondono agli unici studiosi che si siano occupati di Inchbald in modo approfondito: Boaden è autore di una biografia tanto dettagliata quanto prolissa; essa è una fonte importante poiché nella sua redazione egli ha potuto attingere direttamente ai diari e alla corrispondenza della scrittrice, documenti ora andati perduti oppure di difficile consultazione in quanto appartenenti a collezioni private, tuttavia si tratta di un'opera faziosa, in cui la voce moralista e paternalista del biografo interviene ripetutamente offrendo al lettore un resoconto parziale. La ricostruzione biografica scritta da Littlewood nel 1921, così come le altre a seguire deriva largamente dai due volumi di James Boaden senza aggiungervi nulla di interessante. Una decina di anni più tardi William McKee ha redatto un saggio dedicato ai romanzi di Inchbald, ma anche in questo caso si tratta di un'opera non particolarmente significativa; è un testo datato in cui l'approccio analitico risente della prospettiva religiosa in cui si vuole interpretare la produzione romanzesca della scrittrice. Infine, in anni più recenti, Roger Manvell ha contribuito in maniera più convincente all'analisi dell'opera inchbaldiana con un testo in cui accanto alla ricomposizione della vita della scrittrice, ancora una volta ampiamente basata sul lavoro di Boaden, si è voluto affiancare una recensione dell'intera opera letteraria di Elizabeth Inchbald, senza tralasciare i testi composti per il teatro e l'attività critica da lei svolta. Nessuno dei testi elencati ha tuttavia evidenziato la potenzialità "rivoluzionaria” di una scrittrice di cui ho successivamente trovato conferma nei più recenti trattati critici, opera di studiose particolarmente interessate alle scrittrici inglesi del passato; fondamentali in questo senso sono stati i saggi di Terry Castle, Eleanor Ty e Laura Bandiera, mentre autrici come Katharine Rogers, Jane Spencer, e Jane Todd mi hanno permesso da un lato di conoscere una realtà, quella della letteratura al femminile, sino a poco tempo fa a me quasi ignota, e dall'altro, malgrado abbiano affrontato l'opera di Inchbald solo tangenzialmente, mi hanno insegnato un metodo interpretativo basilare nella stesura del seguente elaborato. INTRODUZIONE Nella stesura di questa ricerca dopo una breve analisi generale dell'opera letteraria di Elizabeth Inchbald concentrerò la mia attenzione su quegli aspetti che più mi hanno colpito già a una prima lettura e che, considerato il periodo storico e sociale, ritengo particolarmente significativi. Nel primo capitolo intendo ripercorrere in una sorta di profilo biografico/letterario le tappe principali della vita di questa scrittrice cercando però di contestualizzare la sua attività di attrice, drammaturga, romanziera e infine critica teatrale, all'interno della realtà sociale e letteraria in cui Inchbald dovette muoversi e lottare. In un secolo caratterizzato, tra l'altro, da un atteggiamento discriminatorio nei confronti delle donne, in cui le probabilità di lavoro per esse si facevano sempre più esigue, la letteratura diventa uno dei possibili mezzi di sostentamento: il numero di scrittrici che si cimentano con il romanzo, “nuovo” genere letterario, aumenta di continuo, ma il confronto con i colleghi e le implacabili critiche che arrivavano da questi ultimi costringono le novelle letterate a nascondersi dietro l'anonimato o a giustificare con dichiarazioni dimesse la loro “intrusione” in un campo fino a quel momento di dominio maschile; si cercherà di capire come si sia dovuta muovere, all'interno della situazione testé descritta, Elizabeth Inchbald per affermarsi nel doppio ruolo di romanziera e autrice teatrale, e come sia riuscita a diventare la prima critica letteraria inglese, imponendosi in un mondo ancora ostico e pieno di pregiudizi quale era il teatro di fine Settecento. Nel secondo capitolo si passerà all'analisi del primo romanzo di Elizabeth Inchbald: A Simple Story. Nell'introduzione a Feminism in Eighteenth-Century England, Katharine Rogers afferma "I have found some evidence of feminist feeling in practically all the innumerable women writers of the period, even the most timid and conventional”1: dopo un riassunto della genesi del romanzo si presenteranno i suoi elementi storico-biografici, quindi obiettivo principale del nostro studio sarà verificare se l'affermazione di Rogers possa essere applicata anche a questa romanziera e individuare il suo eventuale contributo al dibattito protofemminista promosso da letterate quali Mary Wollstonecraft, con la quale Elizabeth condivideva le simpatie per gli intellettuali radicali noti come “giacobini inglesi”. Obiettivo del terzo e del quarto capitolo sarà quello di valutare quanto e come l'esperienza di Inchbald nel campo della drammaturgia abbia influito nella redazione dei suoi due romanzi: A Simple Story e Nature and Art, e le eventuali interconnessioni tra questi testi e le sue opere teatrali. Le qualità drammatiche di A Simple Story, che furono evidenziate sin dalla sua prima edizione, verranno prima indagate attraverso un'attenta analisi della tecnica narrativa utilizzata, quindi si passerà, seguendo un'indicazione della stessa scrittrice, al paragone tra la protagonista del romanzo e l'eroina della sua commedia Wives As They Were, and Maids As They Are; infine, raccogliendo il suggerimento di alcuni studiosi, indagheremo sull'influenza di The Winter's Tale nella composizione di A Simple Story, un ascendente
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