The English Imaginary in the Construction of Stereotypes About Sicilians: an Analisys of a Novel as a Gaze at the "Other"

This article analyzes various phenomena of early twenthìieth century Sicilian society, paying particular attention to the cultural performances of individualls and of social groups collectively acting within the ceremonies and rites chosen by the author as being significant to the local scene. R. Hichens, in his novel published in 1905, The Call of the Blood, somehow creates "discursive practices" that descibe a local culture, a village, but within a network of relationship that connect England and Sicily, the great European city and the small Mediterranean village, the connection between four languages (English, French, Italian and Sicilian dialect), means of transport, such as the train and the ship and boat, external and foreign guests and their informants (in this case the servants), the different levels of power of the English visitors ad the local farmers, fishermen, and shepherds.