Society, Culture and the Construction of Identity in the English Literary Narrative of the early Twentieth Century

ABSTRACT. In this paper we aim to investigate through the lens of ethnography some of the principal thematic strands running through the novel by the English writer Robert Smythe Hichens, The Call of the Blood. It recounts a dramatic story of love and crimes observed through the gaze of a northern European, an Englishman transplanted to Sicily. The novel is centred on the story of a couple, Hermione Lester and Maurice Delarey, who travel from London to Taormina, Sicily, for their honeymoon. Once there, a series of vicissitudes will cause Hermione to be forced to leave the island to join a dear friend, Emile Artois, who is seriously ill in Africa. Alone, save for the servants who lead him to explore the beauties of the island, Maurice discovers, to his great surprise, that he has more Sicilian blood in his veins than he himself knew, despite his English origins. In fact, not only does he learn to love the music, food, landscape and local language, but also one of the key protagonists of the novel, the beautiful Maddalena, the daughter of a fisherman. Maurice endeavours to create opportunities to meet her. The story ends in tragedy when Maddalena’s father discovers their passion and kills Maurice. The events unfold unbeknownst to his wife Hermione who, upon returning to Sicily, and even after her husband’s death, remains ignorant of the betrayal and the real cause of his death.