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Converting a Nation
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Studies in European Culture and History
edited by
Eric D. Weitz and Jack Zipes
University of Minnesota
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism, the very meaning of Europe has
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Published by Palgrave Macmillan:
Fascism and Neofascism: Critical Writings on the Radical Right in Europe
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Fictive Theories: Towards a Deconstructive and Utopian Political Imagination
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German-Jewish Literature in the Wake of the Holocaust: Grete Weil, Ruth Klüger, and the
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Turkish Turn in Contemporary German Literature: Toward a New Critical Grammar of
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Transformations of the New Germany
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Caught by Politics: Hitler Exiles and American Visual Culture
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Legacies of Modernism: Art and Politics in Northern Europe, 1890-1950
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Police Forces: A Cultural History of an Institution
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Representing Masculinity: Male Citizenship in Modern Western Culture
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Remembering the Occupation in French Film: National Identity in Postwar Europe
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“Gypsies” in European Literature and Culture
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Converting a Nation
A Modern Inquisition and
the Unification of Italy
Ariella Lang
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CONVERTINGANATION
Copyright © Ariella Lang, 2008.
All rights reserved.
First published in 2008 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the US—a division
of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and
has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the
United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN-13: 978-0-230-60672-2
ISBN-10: 0-230-60672-5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Datais available from the Library of
Congress.
Lang, Ariella.
Converting a nation : a modern inquisition and the unification of
Italy / Ariella Lang.
p. cm. -- (Studies in European culture and history)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-230-60672-5 (alk. paper)
1. Catholic Church--Italy--History--19th century. 2.
Conversion--Catholic Church. 3. Catholic
converts--Italy--Rome--History. 4. Italy--Church history--19th century.
5. Italy--History--1815-1870. I. Title.
BX1545.L36 2008
945'.08--dc22 2008007179
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Scribe Inc.
First edition: October 2008
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America.
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For Alex
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Part I Trials
1 Reading between the Lines:
Inquisition Texts and Catholic Conquests 11
2 Rewriting the Jew in Restoration Italy:
The Stories of Salvatore Tivoli and Samuelle Cavalieri 31
Part II Novels
3 Proselytization as a Nationalist Project:
Alessandro Manzoni the Convert(er) 75
4 Conversion and National Identity:
A Reading of Bresciani’s L’Ebreo di Verona 105
Part III The Catholic Press
5 Private Letters, Public Stories:
From the De Joux Conversion(s) to the Mortara Affair 139
Conclusion 177
Epilogue 181
Notes 187
Bibliography 219
Index 233
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am indebted to a great many friends, colleagues and teachers who
helped me at all stages in the writing of this book, from clarifying the
ideas I was interested in pursuing to refining the final manuscript. I wish
to thank Teodolinda Barolini, Victoria De Grazia, Andrea Malaguti,
Nelson Moe, Silvana Patriarca, and Luciano Rebay, who read this book
or parts of it at different stages, and whose insightfulness and advice
helped me define, and redefine, the scope of my research. I also bene-
fited enormously from the discussion group that Victoria De Grazia
organized during my graduate student days at Columbia University; the
dialogues we had were illuminating and have remained with me. Nelson
Moe deserves special thanks: his careful reading and constructive criti-
cism made me think harder and write better, and he has been an invalu-
able mentor and friend. Early conversations with Robert Amdur,
Anthony Marks, and Franco Moretti were important as I navigated new
territory and considered different approaches in the initial stages of the
project. David Kertzer generously met with me before I entered the
web of Italian and Vatican archives, which can be an overwhelming and
confusing place indeed without such guidance. For reading countless
pages and offering both practical and scholarly criticism, as well as wel-
come interruptions, I thank Miriam Halpern, Rebecca Mechanic, and
Carin McLain. Jessica Lang generously read many drafts and sat through
many a conversation about my project; her perceptive insights and edit-
ing skills were more beneficial than she knows. I am also grateful to the
writing group she organized and to its participants for their helpful
feedback and constant prodding. Thanks as well to Carmen, Franco,
Mario, and Roberto Cigliano for their warm hospitality in Rome; my
research would not have been nearly as fruitful or enjoyable without
them. My parents, Berel and Helen Lang, have read these pages numer-
ous times, submitting my work to their own rigorous standards of
scholarship. They have taught me the value of serious inquiry, and I am
grateful for their constant encouragement. My daughters, Michela and
Nina, provided me with a respite from the solitary process of writing,
