Immortal Words: the Language and Style of the Contemporary Italian Undead-Romance Novel by Christina Vani A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Italian Studies University of Toronto © Copyright by Christina Vani 2018 Immortal Words: the Language and Style of the Contemporary Italian Undead-Romance Novel Christina Vani Doctor of Philosophy Department of Italian Studies University of Toronto 2018 Abstract This thesis explores the language and style of six “undead romances” by four contemporary Italian women authors. I begin by defining the undead romance, trace its roots across horror and romance genres, and examine the subgenres under the horror-romance umbrella. The Trilogia di Mirta-Luna by Chiara Palazzolo features a 19-year-old sentient zombie as the protagonist: upon waking from death, Mirta-Luna searches the Subasio region for her love… but also for human flesh. These novels present a unique interpretation of the contemporary “vampire romance” subgenre, as they employ a style influenced by Palazzolo’s American and British literary idols, including Cormac McCarthy’s dialogic style, but they also contain significant lexical traces of the Cannibali and their contemporaries. The final three works from the A cena col vampiro series are Moonlight rainbow by Violet Folgorata, Raining stars by Michaela Dooley, and Porcaccia, un vampiro! by Giusy De Nicolo. The first two are fan-fiction works inspired by Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga, while the last is an original queer vampire romance. These novels exhibit linguistic and stylistic traits in stark contrast with the Trilogia’s, though Porcaccia has more in common with Mirta-Luna than first meets the eye. While the former two are set in the United Kingdom and feature simple ii dialogue with scant reflections of realistic speech, the latter unfolds in Apulia and reflects the idiomatic expressions and linguistic conventions typical of Italian youth—and young Italian writers. In my thesis, I demonstrate that these works display characteristics that are strictly Italian rather than merely featuring a mirror image of American art lacquered in green, white, and red. While they model themselves on and are inspired by the long and rich history of vampire literature in anglophone cultures, these undead romances, written in Italian for local audiences, betray a burgeoning interest in darker genres in Italy. iii Acknowledgments and Dedication I acknowledge, first and foremost, the support of my father, Mario Vani (1957–2007). Though he is not physically with us, his thirst for knowledge and his passion for bettering the self, through learning, experiencing, and living, were ever-present in all of my educational pursuits, not least of which this doctoral degree. His spirit inspired me along every step of this journey, and I am grateful for his presence and influence. Any and all of the positive traits that fuelled the fire inside of me were inherited or learned from him. Papa, I dedicate this work to you; I firmly believe that I could not have done this without you. Formally, I extend tremendous gratitude to my Thesis Supervisor, Franco Pierno. If he had not encouraged me to study material that truly invigorated me, I might not be publishing a thesis today at all. Prof. Pierno, I thank you for believing in me and I will always be grateful for your generous support, knowledge, gentle advice, and patience. I owe deep appreciation as well to Luca Somigli and Alberto Zambenedetti for their expertise and humour and for helping me think outside of the box. I must underline here, as well, that the term “undead romance” would not exist if Prof. Somigli had not introduced it to the world! Every professor and administrator who has guided me in some way during my master’s and doctorate research, I thank you. I must indicate particular gratitude to Salvatore Bancheri, Anna Laura Lepschy, Giulio Lepschy, Anne Urbancic, Kevin Reynolds, Dario Brancato, and Anselmo Terminelli for their guidance, knowledge, graciousness, and generosity of time and spirit. As they say for raising children, “it takes a village”; so it is, it appears, with works of this scope, and this thesis could barely have been raised without the love and support of my family and friends. Research and reading are isolating tasks and I was fortunate that, despite the kilometres separating me from my mother, sister, and immediate family, I received hands-on support through phone calls, text messages, and sometimes even visits. Mom, Jess, Maritsa, Amanda, Matthew, Carol, Irene, Vanessa, Emanuela, Giovanna, Kathleen, Paolo, Silvia, and all of my extended family (zii and cugini—you know who you are!): you are gems and you are spectacular cheerleaders. You have never left my side or called me crazy or told me to let go when it got too hard. You were always there. Thank you. iv Finally, Dane, my husband, whom I met at the beginning of my degree: you saw it all. You were behind the scenes on days of triumph and moments of failure. You literally held my hand when I needed encouragement and you said yes to our adopting Zoe the Dog—in the middle of my degree!—when I wished for some company during long days of solitary research. Without this degree, I would not have met you; without the requirements of this research, we would not have Zoe; without your support, gusto, and unconditional love, I might have taken years longer to complete this work. Thank you for the meals you cooked for me, the days you walked Zoe, and the nights you convinced me to close my computer and get some rest so I could start anew the next day. I am infinitely grateful to you; a large part of my success is due to your allowing me to lean on you. Ai miei cari nonni: se non fosse per voi, non avrei imparato questa lingua condivisa da tutti i nostri antenati. Se non fosse per voi, non avrei raggiunto questo livello di studio di questa nostra lingua. Se non fosse per voi, la mia vita sarebbe completamente diversa. Se non fosse per la vostra storia, una storia di sacrifici, di speranza, di amore e di duri e faticosi giorni di lavoro per conseguire la vita ideale per la vostra famiglia, non avrei avuto il coraggio e la disciplina di perseguire questo dottorato. Nonna Giannina, l’hai detto meglio tu: “Le lingue non costano molto ma valgono tanto”. Con questa nostra lingua e grazie a questa nostra storia, abbiamo compiuto questo lavoro insieme. Vi ringrazio di cuore. I dedicate this work to all of you, and to you I remain eternally and immortally grateful. v Table of Contents Acknowledgments and Dedication ................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ..................................................................................................................................x Chapter 1 An Introduction to Immortal Words: the Language and Style of the Contemporary Italian Undead-Romance Novel ..................................................................................................1 1 An Immortal Welcome ................................................................................................................1 2 The Works Under Examination and the Breakdown of This Dissertation ..................................3 3 What Is Undead Romance? From Gothic Novels to the Contemporary Romance Novel ..........5 3.1 Why Do We Love Vampires when They Just Want to Kill Us? .........................................8 3.2 The Rise of Recent Romances and the “Great Dark Man” ..................................................9 3.3 What Once Was One Became Separate to Become One Again: from Adventurous Stories, to Romances, to Undead Romances .....................................................................11 4 From Gallows Literature to the Infallible Recipe of Love and Death ......................................12 5 The Status of the Italian Vampire, from the Late 1800s to the New Millennium .....................15 6 My Research Approach and the State of the Scholarship .........................................................18 6.1 The State of the Scholarship ..............................................................................................18 6.2 Approaching the Undead Romance via Research on Paraliterature ..................................19 6.3 Quality and Quantity: the Issue of Serial Works ...............................................................20 7 Guiding Questions .....................................................................................................................23 Chapter 2 “Andrei nel fuoco, per lui”: the Genre and Style of Chiara Palazzolo’s Trilogia di Mirta-Luna ................................................................................................................................25 1 Introduction: Into Which Literary Genre Does the Trilogia di Mirta-Luna Fit? ......................25 2 Plot Summary of the Trilogia di Mirta-Luna by Chiara Palazzolo ..........................................29 3 Classifying the Trilogia di Mirta-Luna: Horror, Romance, or a Blend of the Two? ................31 3.1 Mirta Fossati the Chick-Lit Heroine? ................................................................................32 3.2 Chick-Lit and Teen-Lit Linguistics and Stylistics .............................................................34 vi 3.3