Nature in Modern Literature

1. Nature in Modern Literature Desirèe Mosca VA

2. Aims of the path Examine in depth Modern literature Find connections between texts Train in view of the final examination

3. Reasons for the path Nature as a recurringtheme in literture ↓ Why? Interest in symbolism of flowers

4. My path… Natural references in J.Joyce’s Ulysses Natural references in V.Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway Natural references in G.D’Annunzio’s La pioggia nel pineto Natural references in O.Wildes’s The Picture of Dorian Gray

5. Extracts from Molly’s interior monologue … of course a nice plant for the middle of the table Id get that cheaper in wait wheres this I saw them not long ago I loveflowers Id love to have the whole place swimming in roses God of heaven theres nothing like nature the wild mountains then the sea and the waves rushing then the beautiful country with the fields of oats and wheat and all kinds of things and all the fine cattle going about that would do your heart good to see rivers and lakes and flowersall sorts of shapes and smells and colours springing up even out of the ditchesprimroses and violetsnature it is…

6. What? purpose to adorn the house  appreciation of Nature How?flux of thoughts: inside  outside small  big abolition of spatial distance expression of opinion and feelings language of sense impression (sight, hearing) repetition (I love, flowers) adjectives (nice, fine, wild, beautiful) Why? involvement partecipation influence evocation imagination

7. …they might as well try to stop the sun from rising tomorrow the sun shines for youhe said the day we were lying among the rhododendrons on Howth head… …he said I was a flower of the mountain yes so we are flowers all a womans body yes that was one true thing he said in his life and the sun shines for you today yes that was why I liked him because I saw he understood or felt what a woman is … What? memories: quotation  situation reflections and judgements pair Love/Nature Woman/Flower How? repetition of key words (sun, flowers, woman) repetition of formulas (yes, that was) Why? multiple roles of Nature: source for collective imagination setting of sweet memories

8. …and O that awful deepdown torrent O and the sea the sea crimson sometimes like fire and the glorious sunsets and the figtrees in the Alameda gardens yes and all the queer little streets and the pink and blue and yellow houses and the rosegardens and the jessamine and geraniums and cactuses and Gibraltar as a girl where I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall …

9. What? memories: landscape and atmosphere pair: Nature/Human being (Gibraltar, girl; Molly, flower) How? focus on colors (red  passion) adjectives (awful, glorious) geographical, botanical and anthropological references  passion for detail personification (Gibraltar as a girl) Why? realism floral symbolism: rose, jessamine  love geranium  aristocracy  multiple interpretations

10. Extracts from Mrs.Dalloway There were flowers: delphiniums, sweet peas, bunches of lilac; and carnations, masses of carnations. There were roses; there were irises. Ah yes — so she breathed in the earthy garden sweet smell as she stood talking to Miss Pym who owed her help, and thought her kind, for kind she had been years ago; very kind, but she looked older, this year, turning her head from side to side among the irises and roses and nodding tufts of lilac with her eyes half closed, snuffing in, after the street uproar, the delicious scent, the exquisite coolness. What? Mrs. Dalloway’s behavior at the florist How? botanical refereces appeal to senses (sight, smell) adjectives (awful, glorious) Why? realism characterisation  information about the protagonist

11. And then, opening her eyes, how freshlike frilled linen clean from a laundry laid in wicker trays the roses looked; and dark and prim the red carnations, holding their heads up; and all the sweet peas spreading in their bowls, tinged violet, snow white, pale — as if it were the evening and girls in muslin frocks came out to pick sweet peas and roses after the superb summer’s day, with its almost blue-black sky, its delphiniums, its carnations, its arum lilies was over; and it was the moment between six and seven when every flower — roses, carnations, irises, lilac — glows; white, violet, red, deep orange; every flower seems to burn by itself, softly, purely in the misty beds; and how she loved the grey-white moths spinning in and out, over the cherry pie, over the evening primroses! How? simile focus on colors personification of flowers Why? evocative power of nature

12. Extracts from La pioggia nel pineto Ascolta. Piove dalle nuvole sparse. Piove su le tamerici salmastre ed arse, piove su i pini scagliosi ed irti, piove su i mirti divini, su le ginestre fulgenti di fiori accolti, su i ginepri folti di coccole aulenti, piove su i nostri volti silvani, piove su le nostre mani ignude, su i nostri vestimenti leggieri, su i freschi pensieri che l'anima schiude novella What? evocation of a superhuman experience How? botanical refereces appeal to senses (sight, hearing) adjectives Why? metamorphosis variety of nature greatness of the experience

13. E il pinoha un suono, e il mirtoaltro suono, e il gineproaltro ancóra, stromentidiversisotto innumerevoli dita.E immersinoi siam nello spirtosilvestre,d'arborea vita viventi;e il tuo volto ebroè molle di pioggiacome una foglia,e le tue chiomeauliscono comele chiare ginestre,o creatura terrestreche hai nomeErmione. How? botanical refereces appeal to senses (sight, hearing) metaphor simile Why? metamorphosis power of nature properties of plants bound Nature/Human being

14. Extract from The Picture of Dorian Gray The studio was filled with the rich odor of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn. From the corner of the divan of Persian saddle-bags on which he was lying, smoking, as usual, innumerable cigarettes, Lord Henry Wotton could just catch the gleam of the honey-sweet and honey-colored blossoms of the laburnum, whose tremulous branches seemed hardly able to bear the burden of a beauty so flame-like as theirs; and now and then the fantastic shadows of birds in flight flitted across the long tussore-silk curtains that were stretched in front of the huge window, producing a kind of momentary Japanese effect, and making him think of those pallid jade-faced painters who, in an art that is necessarily immobile, seek to convey the sense of swiftness and motion. What? description of a scene How? botanical refereces appeal to senses (sight,smell) passion for detail Why? power of sensation  pleasure

15. Summing up… • Nature Setting Evocative Vehicle of emotions Incitement to feelings Life Beauty Part of collective imagination