ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the textual origins and evolution of the figure of the 'Anglo-Italian' in Mary Shelley's writings. Given that the most complete sketches and references are made in Mary Shelley's reviews and essays, it focuses on 'The English in Italy', 'A Visit to Brighton', and 'Modern Italy', but at the same time draw on her letters and other subject-related documents. A parallel reading of the public text and the private document, a parallel look at the public Mary Shelley and the private one – as well as at the tensions between them – will throw more light on the figurative and ideological uses of the Anglo-Italian. The chapter considers Mary Shelley's travelogue Rambles in Germany and Italy in 1840, 1842, and 1843. In Rambles in Germany and Italy, in 1840, 1842, and 1843, several rhetorical strategies are employed to ascertain the author's Anglo-Italian taste. In Rambles, Shelley authenticates her Anglo-Italianness by using both standard rhetorical strategies and novel ones.
