Research

My main field of research is twentieth century British literature, especially focusing on:
  • Modernism: Modernist experimentation from an interdisciplinary perspective, Modernism and the Visual Arts, Modernism and  Dance, Modernism and Music.
  • The relationship between literature and the visual arts: Ruskin and Modernism, Cézanne and twentieth century writers, poets and philosophers, contemporary British and American Poetry and Renaissance paintings.
  • Modernist representations of ancient cultures, with particular attention to the Etruscans.
  • The influence of Japanese culture on European Modernism, with particular attention to Noh and Kabuki theatre.
  • D.H. Lawrence: travel writings, Lawrence and Italy, Lawrence and ancient Italian cultures, fiction, non-fiction writings, with particular attention to his essays on the visual arts, Lawrence’s paintings.
  • Contemporary British and American Poetry, from 1950s onwards.
  • The Anglo-American Poet Thom Gunn.
  • Poetry and photography, poetry and music.
Current Research
  • Edition of the book, Representations of the British Aristocracy, 19th century- present, McFarland, Jefferson, USA (co-editors, Ian Duncan and Luisa Villa).
  • Experimental book on the Poetry of Thom Gunn, part biographical including memories and interviews, part critical, with unpublished material from the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
  • A long essay on Lawrence and Translation for the forthcoming Edinburgh Companion to D.H. Lawrence, edited by Catherine Brown and Sue Reid, Edinburgh University Press.
Other Fields of Research
  • The Language of Law in literature, with particular attention to John Mortimer and his stories Rumpole of the Bailey.
  • Seventieth Century British Poetry, with particular attention to Thomas Traherne.
  • E.M. Forster’s Short Stories.
  • Islands and Isolation in Twentieth Century Writers.
  • New South African Voices.
Funded Research Projects

For a full description see here.

  • PRIN 1995 — John Ruskin and Modernism (University of Milan)
  • PRA 1996:  D.H. Lawrence and the Visual Arts (University of Milan)
  • PRIN 1998: Ninetieth and twentieth century Representation Techniques in Anglo-Saxon Culture: Aesthetic Theories and Textual Practice (University of Vercelli)
  • PRA 1999: American and European Contemporary Poetry 1980-2005
  • 2002: Cooperation between the University of Udine and the University of Zululand: New South African Voices.  Visiting Fellowship at the University of Zululand, June 2002 where I delivered some lectures on European Modernism.
  • PRIN 2006: The Nomadic Geographies of Anglo-American Modernism (Universities of Milan).
  • PRA 2011: Modernism and the Mediterrean. Literature and Politics 1900-1937 (University of Genoa).
  • PRA 2012: Representations of the British Aristocracy: 19th century-present (University of Genoa)
  • PRA 2013: Nature and Ethology from Ancient Times to the XVIIth Century (University of Genoa)
  • PRA 2014: Books and Readers from Ancient Times to the Renaissance (University of Genoa)
  • 2014: Short term fellowship sponsored by the Japan Society for the promotion of Science: The influence of Japanese Noh Theatre on European Modernismhttps://www.jsps.go.jp/english/
Academic Associations and Research Centres

I am a member of the following associations:

  • AIA (Associazione Italiana Anglistica), Italy
  • ESSE (European Society for the Study of English), Europe
  • ANDA (Associazione Nazionale Docenti di Anglistica), Italy
  • HSSA (Humanities and Social Sciences Association, UC Berkeley), USA
  • The D.H. Lawrence Society of North America, USA
  • CCILC (Coordinating Committee for International Lawrence Conferences, Country Representative, co-executive Director in 2014).
  • The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (as a former fellow), Japan.
  • International Advisory Board for the 2020 International Conference: Re-orientating E.M. Forster, Cambridge, UK.