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The Gothic and Italian Modernity

In collaboration with NYU Department of Italian Studies A lecture by Stefano Serafini, Georgetown University / University of Padua Discussants: Andrea Capra, NYU Marco Calogero Battaglia, NYU This presentation shows how the Gothic, far from being a marginal literary mode, permeated the cultural, scientific, and political spheres of post-unification Italy. Gothic Italy uncovers the tensions between the anxieties embodied by the Gothic and the values of a modern, secular nation striving to define itself. Focusing on crime narratives, the lecture traces how fears of contagion, race, social mobility, abnormal sexuality, female transgression, male performativity, and the fragility of the new body politic came to the fore. By examining how writers, scientists, and intellectuals engaged with these issues, it reveals a dense web of exchanges that shaped debates on crime and deviance, contributing to the construction of modern notions of normality and abnormality. Highlighting a moment crucial to Italy’s nation-building, Gothic Italy also demonstrates how Gothic-infused discourses of fear and transgression continue to resonate, often disturbingly, in contemporary society. About the Speaker Stefano Serafini is Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at Georgetown University and the University of Padua. He received a PhD in comparative literature and cultures from Royal Holloway, University of London, was postdoctoral fellow in Italian Studies at the University of Toronto, MHRA postdoctoral fellow in European Languages at the University of Warwick, and assistant professor of comparative literature at the University of Padua. He is the author of Gothic Italy. Crime, Science, and Literature after Unification, 1861–1914 (University of Toronto Press, 2024) and Italian Crime Fiction Revisited. Authority, Detection, and the Supernatural, 1861–1941 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025). Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò New York University January 28, 2025