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Recensioni
Fenu Barbera, Rossana. La donna che cammina. Incanto e mito della seduzione
del passo femminile nella poesia italiana del primo Novecento. Ravenna: Longo,
2001. Pp. 153.
ISBN 8-8806-3279-5.
This book examines the poetic image of the walking
Women
the early twentieth century.
mythology, philosophy,
and
most famous
literary
We
art in general.
Primavera or Dalì's Gradiva,
woman
A
study of the symbolic
two chapters, which touch upon
first
and provide an apt introduction
to
to specific textual analysis of Italian poetry
by
religion, philosophy, literature, figurative arts
move
Botticelli's
sonnet "A une passante," the
example of the walking woman.
meaning of the motif occupies the book's
of
inspiration for
need only think of
as well as Baudelaire's
the second two chapters, that
in Italian poetry
motion have provided
in
Gabriele D'Annunzio, Vincenzo Cardarelli, Camillo Sbarbaro,
Dino Campana,
Corrado Govoni, Cesare Pavese, Eugenio Montale, Giorgio Caproni, Mario Luzi
and
Fenu
Attilio Bertolucci.
Barbera's contention
varied presence of the image of the walking
trum over the
centuries,
The walking woman
throughout the cultural spec-
of the Novecento that the topos assumes
at the rise
it is
complex metaphorical meanings,
male poet/viewer of the woman.
crucial for the
exhibits the sense of novelty,
freedom and emancipation, that
mark Novecento's modernity. With her motion and energy she can
and pleasure
The
investigation.
stir
emotion
as a vehicle for epistemological
passerby finds her ancestral roots in the Jungian archetype of
the 'anima,' symbol of
woman
and she can serve
in the poet/viewer,
broad and
that, despite the
is
woman
vital
life,
Moreover the walking
breath and mystery.
can express the creative energy of the poet and his journey through poet-
ic creativity.
Chapter
("L'immagine della donna cammina nella cultura europea") opens
1
The
with an overview of the image in turn of the century European culture.
woman
caught in the act of walking has strong
on the
effects
observers, be her a
passerby in the crowded city street, or the fashion model walking
walk.
Fenu Barbera
dates back to primitive cults,
Aristotle)
such
as
Petrarca.
and
religion
At the dawn of the twentieth century, the image of the
finds a fascinating incarnation in
known through
Gradiva" (1907), this novel
Pygmalion. In
fact
where two myths
is
Wilhelm
sees the
and
mira") and
la
woman
and Dreams
Freud's essay "Delusions
Fenu Barbera
(Plato
Italian lyric poets
in
motion
Jensen's short novel Gradiva (1903).
interpreted as a
conflate: the
the cat-
whose origin
mythology (Ovidian myths) philosophy
(Song of Songs), to reappear in Medieval
Dante, Cavalcanti ("Chi è questa che vèn, ch'ogn'om
Perhaps better
down
investigates the symbolic significance of a topos
modern
visitation
image of the walking woman
myth of Pigmalion and
in Jensens's
of the myth of
as the locus
the one of Apollo
and
Daphne.
In chapter 2 ("Dal mito dell'anima
establishes the link
is
investigated
Plato)
al
between the walking
from
mito dell'anima gemella") Fenu Barbera
woman and
the concept of anima'
a mythological, philosophical (as
and psychoanalytical
perspective.
phers and poets anima' takes up
human
which
developed by Aristotle and
In the collective unconscious of philoso-
form, female gender and
— 148 —
is
associated to
Ri
movement, and
the idea of
<
NSiONi
i
founding elements
vital breath, all
appear
that
in the
image of walking woman.
Chapter 3 ("La donna che cammina
moves
directly to
Novecento")
nella poesia italiana del
century poetry for a close analysis.
early twentieth
Italian
Drawing on Merleau-Ponty's concept that from movement originates our desire,
that motion is an essential communicative element in perceptive relations
and
between individuals, Fenu Barbera then locates in movement and sight the pleasure of the poet/viewer, his sense of anticipation
who excites his imagination
So Campana "Andava. La vita
elusive passerby,
presence.
and mystery
at the sight
of the
with her indefinite and transient
profondi
occhi
Agli
s'apriva/
e
sereni?/Andava lasciando un mistero/ di sogni avverati..." Sometimes mystery and
anticipation lead to anticlimax as in Bertolucci's "Chi è quella che viene verso di
noi affannata." Here the poet recasts Cavalcanti^ famous opening line in a demys-
of the
tified variation
is
the family servant.
motion
reveals that,
topos,
A
where instead of an idealized female
figure the
woman
semiotic analysis of literary representations of body in
through the image of the walking woman, the male poet can
acquire identity, sense of
self,
can enjoy visual pleasure, achieve complementarity
and union with the woman, who can be
both anima and anima
for the poet
gemella.'
Perhaps the most interesting part of this book
come
spazio e percorso della camminata"), where
oretical study
on poetic
Lorca, Maria Corti
and
others, finds in
of poetic creation. As stated
in
measured
as a journey,
woman
Maria
by Barthes,
De
a
is
metaphor
stylistic,
one walks slowly or
ing
woman. Campana
and
fast, it
women
in
woman
can be "una sorta di drammatizis
the path
reproduce the movement of the walk-
skillfully
rhythm of music
convey poetically and metrically feminine movement;
"Contro corrente come bionde
along the street
anima of
for the
Corti's // viaggio testuale, poetry itself
in "Tre giovani fiorentine" follows the
uses synaesthesia to
Govoni
can
the-
Certeau,
metric, rhythmical adven-
zazione figurata dello svolgersi del linguaggio poetico." (115) Poetry
that
poetico
pace and rhythm. Fenu Barbera thinks
in feet,
that the literary motif of the walking
("Il testo
the poetic instances of female peram-
all
the poet and his voyage through the thematic,
tures
chapter 4
creative process as explained
bulation a unifying element: the walking
can be seen
is
Fenu Barbera, supported by
as the
flow of fish
trote" sees the stroll
of two young
down the stream and reproduces
it
in
the poetic rhythm.
For Fenu Barbera the walking
look back, assert her presence in
Annina does
rità e
una
of early twentieth century poetry can
the world and exorcize death with her
Capronis poems. The passerby seems to display
a
vitality, as
"profonda matu-
coscienza proprio grazie a questa libertà di guardare sia avanti che indietro:
libertà
However
more
in
woman
che permette
...
il
distacco da certi legami culturali col passato" (98).
the very absence of the female voice in these texts seems to reinforce a
traditional cultural perspective than
of expression offered to the
her movement.
and vehicle
The woman
in
motion
for the construction of
sees; in fact the
only form
the display of her
body and
Fenu Barbera
walking
silent
woman
as a
is
metaphor
male subjectivity
— 149 —
still
for
male poetic creation
denies her
own
voice.
As
Recensioni
Fenu Barbera mentions
ers
in the
Conclusion, a look
have employed the image of the walking
how and wether women
at
woman,
could
writ-
yield very different
conclusions.
By favouring
and semiotic reading over more
a philosophical, psychological
traditional socio-historical
and
literary
approach, this book offers an innovative
and meaningful perspective into twentieth century Italian poetry. By placing early
Novecento poetry in a wide context including visual arts (the book includes plates
reproducing important samples of walking women in painting, sculpture and photography) and European literature this book can be of interest to both the spe-
common
and the
cialized scholar
reader.
Patrizia Bettella
University
ofAlberta
Dombroski, Robert
Gadda and
Creative Entanglements:
S.
Toronto: University of Toronto Press,
Pp.
1999.
x,
Baroque.
the
ISBN 0-8020-
151.
4490-5 $40.
Spentosi
10 maggio del 2002, Dombroski è
il
Boccaccio, Pirandello,
un punto
di riferimento
ana-lisi puntuali
terario
Manzoni
e,
nordamericana.
soprattutto, su
importante per
ed influenze interdisciplinari.
tendenza. Al fine di penetrare
Gadda, Dombroski usa con
filosofia di Leibniz, oltre
Il
i
volume
in questione
(il
ad
let-
terzo dedicato al
allo studio di Carlo E.
Perspectives
Gadda
del
1997) conferma questa
più profondi dell'arte narrativa di
significati
si
teorici quali
Benjamin
e Deleuze).
dimostra assolutamente a suo agio
da un
Il
risultato è di
nell'inserire
ogni
critico che, lungi
metodologico all'interno del proprio discorso
dal risultare appesantito
su
lavori
perizia vari approcci critici (la psicologia freudiana, la
che
notevole spessore. L'autore
vita
suoi
tutti gli studiosi di letteratura italiana,
Gadda: Contemporary
e Carlo Emilio
possibile spunto
I
Gadda, rimangono ancor'oggi
ed approfondite in cui l'autore ha saputo combinare studio
grande scrittore lombardo dopo Introduzione
1974
lungo tempo, una delle
stato, per
autorità letterarie e critiche dell'italianistica
apparato epistemologico, se ne giova, dando
tale
ad un testo intenso e illuminante che di certo appassionerà
i
tanti lettori dello
scrittore milanese.
Scopo
dello studio di
missime pagine,
Dombroski
di inserire l'arte
è quello, evidente e scoperto sin dalle pri-
gaddiana all'interno di una prospettiva più ampia,
e cioè quella prospettiva neobarocca che, tanto in
Gadda
—come
barocco, inteso
in pochi altri scrittori
non
solo
come
— una
voga
in questi giorni, acquista in
valenza ed una rilevanza assolute.
categoria estetica
ma
Il
anche come visione del
mondo, probabilmente rappresentò per Gadda l'unico strumento in grado di
"dire" una realtà non più lineare e meccanicistica ma, al contrario, "creative,
unpredictable, and mysterious"
"Gadda
is
baroque
[...],
cazioni del barocco, o neobarocco se
attraverso
una
ix):
(p.
because the world
si
in
altri
itself is
preferisce,
termini, spiega
baroque"
(p. 4).
non finiscono
Dombroski,
Ma
le
impli-
certo qui: infatti,
scrittura fatta di infinite digressioni, variazioni, relazioni, lo scrittore
— 150 —