Freeing Sardinia from Lawrence’s narrative: Foxell’s fascination with linguistic traps

DONGU, MARIA GRAZIA

2016-01-01

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Abstract

Lawrence constructed his image of Sardinia to fit his own theories on European civilization in the aftermath of World War One. Foxell’s Sardinia Without Lawrence (2005) purposely deconstructs the unity of the celebrated Sea and Sardinia by exposing the aporias of Lawrentian discourse, fragments of a Victorian discourse on otherness, and by juxtaposing Lawrence’s quotations, his metatextual commentaries and a detailed description of the island. Foxell’s fascinating report is not only born out of another text, but by ‘translating’ and rewriting its hypotext frees Sardinia from ideological oriented past narratives. Key words – Sea and Sardinia; Sardinia Without Lawrence; intertextuality