Bertinoro, 6/13 September 2009

Shadows

Obedient Shadows.
Black Servants and White Cannibals


This paper aims at exploring a metaphorical use of the notion of shadow – the coloured manservant as the uncannny shadow of his master –  along the pattern established by Daniel Defoe’s Man Friday. Drawing examples from Derek Walcott, V. S. Naipaul and J. M. Coetzee, the paper will explore the semantic complexity of such a trope, and its potential for tragedy and irony.

Lecture in English
Simona Corso
University of Rome

Simona Corso teaches English Literature at the Comparative Literature Department of the University of Rome – Roma Tre. Her research interests include Eighteenth Century English literature, Shakespeare and Jacobean Theatre, Postcolonial Studies and narratology. Her publications include Postcolonial Shakespeare, a cura di M. d’Amico e S. Corso (Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, forthcoming), Letteratura e Antropologia, a cura di M. Bonafin e S. Corso (Edizioni dell’Orso, 2008), Automi, termometri, fucili. L'immaginario della macchina nel romanzo inglese e francese del Settecento (Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2004) and articles on Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, James Joyce, Derek Walcott and V.S. Naipaul. Her novel Capodanno al Tennis Club (Sellerio, 2002) was awarded the Premio Mondello Opera Prima in 2003.