Othering the Mediterranean in E. M. Forster’s Italian Novels: A Levinasian Perspective

Abstract

In order to put the current challenges faced by the Mediterranean into perspective, this article discusses the cultural aspects of the othering of Italy by the English at the turn of the 19th century. This issue is illustrated by Edward Morgan Forster’s Italian novels – Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905) and A Room with a View (1908) – and the analysis is supported by Emmanuel Levinas’s philosophy of alterity, with glances at Edward Said’s and Homi K. Bhabha’s approaches to the problem of otherness. The interpersonal relation between Levinasian same and other has been transposed here to international relations. It is demonstrated that the characters of Forster’s novels represent the challenging endeavors of the English at handling the "strangeness" of Italy. The consequences of this encounter point to the need for more human relations between nations, in which they would go beyond political borders and offer their neighbours welcome and hospitality.