Criminal Hero

Justice, Politics and Media Culture in Eighteenth-Century Naples

AvPasquale Palmieri

Häftad, Engelska, 2026

Del i serien Microhistories

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Beskrivning

In the spring of 1757, the Augustinian friar Leopoldo di San Pasquale was tried in Naples by the hierarchies of his own religious order on charges of financial fraud, heresy, and sexual immorality. He responded by accusing the heads of the convent of subjecting him to a series of inhuman cruelties, claiming to have been "buried alive". While waiting for a final judgment (it was pronounced seven years later, in 1764), the trial of Leopoldo di San Pasquale became a cultural phenomenon unlike any witnessed before in Naples. Cumulatively, reactions to the trial, both during and after it, broke the boundaries separating chronicle and literary fiction, engaged people’s faculties of reason and emotion, and ultimately transformed Leopoldo into a public spectacle—or what we might call today a “celebrity.”Focusing on the scandalous affair of the "buried alive", this book shows how the governing authorities in Naples managed the development of news and stories around current events through their systems of courts and bureaucracies. It also aims to demonstrate how, just as importantly, consumers played an increasing in the spread of information, as means to political empowerment. The sources analyzed call for a microhistorical analysis, as well as for an interdisciplinary discussion with media studies at its conceptual core.A Criminal Hero will appeal to students and scholars alike interested in microhistory, cultural history, media history, history of literature, social and political history, with a focus on the eighteenth century.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2026-06-22
Mått:156 x 234 x 9 mm
Vikt:290 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Serie:Microhistories
Antal sidor:148
Upplaga:26001
Förlag:Taylor & Francis Ltd
ISBN:9781032722276

Utforska kategorier

Litteraturvetenskap inom Skönlitteratur
Medievetenskap inom Samhälle och politik
Europas historia inom Historia och arkeologi

Mer om författaren

Pasquale Palmieri is Associate Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Naples “Federico II.” He is Ph.D. in History of European Society (University of Naples Federico II, 2008) and Italian Studies (University of Texas at Austin, 2021). His research interests include early modern media and literary culture, with a particular emphasis on the relationship between politics and religion. His recent publications include Le cento vite di Cagliostro (2023) and The Land of Devotion. Saints, Politics and Media Culture in 18th-Century Italy (2023).

Recensioner i media

‘Palmieri’s study exposes the tangled web of eighteenth-century Neapolitan media culture, with its intermingling of different genres and power contests. A concise but rich and deeply researched analysis … the study documents the effect that words, written, printed, published, and disseminated, had on people’s understanding of justice and criminality … Although Palmieri’s microhistorical analysis deliberately restricts its geographical and temporal scope by largely focusing on a single individual, the scholar’s transmedial approach is relevant to examinations of the intersection between media culture and power systems, both within Italian studies and beyond. In our current moment, dominated by false news and in which the political landscape bears witness to the increasingly elusive nature of truth, Palmieri’s study feels particularly timely’ - ANNALI D’ITALIANISTICA (Volume 43, 2025).

Innehållsförteckning

Introduction Chapter 1: “Buried Alive:” Leopoldo and the Style of the Holy Office (1757–1767) Chapter 2: Justice, Literature, and Public Space Chapter 3: A Participatory Tale: Verbal, Visual, and Written Forms of Communication Chapter 4: Literary Communication and the Building of a Political CultureConclusion: A Hidden Identity in the Theater of the World