Vol. 4 · No. 1
Venetian (Still) LifeThe Displacement of Ethical Response in the Travel Writing of W.D. Howells
Shaul Bassi and Barbara Del Mercato, University Ca' Foscari, Venice, Italy
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Abstract
In conclusion, Venetian Life remains an original contribution to a Venetian literary canon historically anchored to powerful tropes shaped from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, particularly in the Anglo-American tradition. Privileging the dynamics of everyday life over the static of artistic beauty so favoured by his contemporaries, Howells exposes himself to numerous situations that solicit an ethical response, which, nevertheless, is invariably avoided.