Representations of the fin-de-siècle literary salon in the chronicles of Matilde Serao

Abstract

This article looks into the representations of the Italian literary salon in the print press during the 1880s. Special attention will be given to Matilde Serao’s mediation in the private as well as in the public sphere and to her double role as salon chronicler and salon attendee. Her views with regard to the artistic and political landscape of fin de siecle Italy will be examined through a series of chronicles on Pasquale Mancini, Baroness Magliani, Francesco De Renzis and the salon of the literary magazine Capitan Fracassa. The representations of these salons in the fortnightly periodical Cronaca Bizantina (Rome, 1881–1886) as well as in the daily newspaper Corriere di Roma (1883–1886) offered a new reading experience to a wide audience and encouraged the creation of an imagined community of salon attendees. Thus, salon participation will be studied through the prism of the periodical press, which interpreted salon life as a meaningful collective experience and a decisive factor in the formation of culture. Serao’s chronicle will also be viewed as an instrument of social critique, which raised questions on the rapid expansion of mass media, the growing demand for human progress, the withering away of politics and the growing importance of art as a means of personal expression.