Walter Pater : Reception, Rewriting, Adaptation

Walter Pater: Reception, Rewriting, Adaptation revitalises the field of Pater studies at the intersection between Italian and international critical traditions on the fin de si\ue8cle. Much can be said on Pater in the light of recent critical pronouncements. The renewed focus on his role as a classicist, or as a precursor of twentieth-century cultural theory, or as a sophisticated practitioner of intertextuality, all offer material for discussion. Walter Pater: Reception, Rewriting, Adaptation adopts these trends to read Pater\u2019s work from the perspective of diverse forms of intertextuality that are recurrent in his perception of past and present Western culture. Pater was such a multifaceted author that the imbricated presence of a variety of texts, not necessarily literary, in his writings is anything but surprising. In particular, both classical and modern myths are a constant in his appropriations and may provide fresh ideas for further research. Pater\u2019s reception and rewriting of Italian culture is another underexplored topic and a main concern of this volume. The diverse modes of appropriation here selected and combined will allow us to gain a new appreciation of the complexity of Pater\u2019s textuality