Corinne ou l’Italie, melancholy and political renaissance, and the literature of Italy

Melancholy allows a renewal of de Staël’s discourse on the nature of being Italy. It particularly develops between De la littérature and Corinne: in 1807, melancholy, which is a psychological phenomenon, becomes the political instrument of this emerging nation state. It allows it to move beyond the opposition between North and South, and offers Italians an active horizon that transforms them into agents of their own future. Corinne therefore promotes a productive and emancipatory melancholy through its depiction of the North.