The Discourse of Italy in Nineteenth Century Irish Gothic: Maturin’s Fatal Revenge, Le Fanu’s Exotic Tales, and The Castle of Savina

Abstract

Anglo-Irish Gothic romances set in Italy, such as Maturin’s The Fatal Revenge (1807), the anonymous novelette, The Castle of Savina (ca.1807), and the two exotic tales by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, although employing the stock machinery of the genre, have specificities of their own that, far from offering reflections of Italy, reveal Ireland’s image of itself and convey its anxieties. The excess of violence that is present in Maturin’s and Le Fanu’s tales may be due to an ideological bias deriving from post-Reformation anti-Catholicism that resulted in a demonization of Catholic countries and/or to a reflection of the fears and malaise of the Anglo-Irish, who in the nineteenth century were a beleaguered minority among discontented and threatening Catholics. Moreover, there may be a sort of compensation or retaliation process for the traditional demeaning vision the English had of Ireland.