ITALIJA U PUTOPISU „ORIJENT“ VISENTEA BLASKA IBANjESA

Abstract

The paper analyzes the image of Italy in the travel texts Orient by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, published after the journey of this Spanish writer from France to Istanbul in 1907. Although Blasco Ibáñez did not pass through Italy during this trip, there are references to Italian culturein many texts, since the author had already stayed in Italy in 1896, when he published a travelogue In the Land of Art, dedicated to this country. Using the principles of imagology, the current paper analyzes how Italy becomes a cultural reference and the basis for comparing the peoples and places the travel writer visited in 1907. The image of the other is interpreted as a construct, a con- vention, as a subjective product of Blasco Ibáñez, taking into account the entire cultural mate- rial that was used for writing, that is, what the author of the image knew and experienced. In addition to its informative character, we note the reality embodied in the travelogue as a poetic projection of subjectivity. Although the typical comparison in travelogues is between us and the other, it is evident that Blasco Ibáñez does not put the Spanish in the relationship with the Other, instead there are mutual comparisons of other peoples. We conclude that Italian referencesfunction as mediating elements in depicting other nations. Many places gain their identity precisely by contrasting or alluding to reference places in Italian culture.