This essay focuses on the revision undertaken by William Beckford for the publication of his travel book more than fifty years after its composition. Dreams, Waking Thoughts, and Incidents (1783) was withdrawn by the author before distribution and published in 1834 as volume one of Italy; with Sketches of Spain and Portugal in a heavily edited version. The choice of the new title, the different organization and use of contents, the attenuation of the visionary element and the role of mediation played by cultural artefacts between the narrator and the outside world are discussed in terms of the conspicuous effects produced by textual variants. The issue of textual instability arises, directly investing the reader’s act and constituting an essential part of Beckford’s aesthetics of incompleteness.
'Drunk with the dews of the morning': William Beckford rewrites his travel account
NIEDDA D
2019-01-01
Abstract
This essay focuses on the revision undertaken by William Beckford for the publication of his travel book more than fifty years after its composition. Dreams, Waking Thoughts, and Incidents (1783) was withdrawn by the author before distribution and published in 1834 as volume one of Italy; with Sketches of Spain and Portugal in a heavily edited version. The choice of the new title, the different organization and use of contents, the attenuation of the visionary element and the role of mediation played by cultural artefacts between the narrator and the outside world are discussed in terms of the conspicuous effects produced by textual variants. The issue of textual instability arises, directly investing the reader’s act and constituting an essential part of Beckford’s aesthetics of incompleteness.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
