Da una Guerra civile all’altra: lo zio Tom, la secessione americana e l’unità d’Italia

The article focuses on the reception of Uncle Tom’s Cabin during the two decades following its first Italian translation (1852-1871). The novel represented not only an exciting and engaging text, but also a tool for interpreting many of the events and issues of the Risorgimento. In particular, until 1861 many Italians perceived Tom’s enslavement and George, Eliza, and Harry’s escape as an allegory of their subjection to and struggle against the Habsburgs and the Bourbons. Later, the most attentive readers interpreted the foreshadowing of the crises between North and South as a premonition of the events that were to conclude the process of national unification in 1871.