Beyond the Family Romance : The Legend of Pascoli

for their valuable constructive criticism. Ernesto Livorni kindly provided detailed comments on several chapters, and Michael Levine generously shared his expertise in psychoanalytic methodology. I have enjoyed insightful mentorship and kind support from my colleagues at the Pennsylvania State University: John Lipski, Bob Blue, Sherry Roush, Chip Gerfen, Paola Gambarota, and Heather McCoy. I thank Scott Surrency for his work on the index. The Paul Gignilliat fellowship at Yale provided financial support. I thank the anonymous readers and the Manuscript Review Committee at University of Toronto Press for their excellent and insightful advice. The manuscript benefited greatly from the meticulous work of Margaret Allen, copy editor, and Anne Laughlin, managing editor. My heartfelt thanks go to Toronto Italian Studies series editor Ron Schoeffel, with whom it has been a pleasure to work, for his guidance and expertise. My discussions of 'La voce' (in the introduction) and 'Antìclo' (in chapter 2) are reprinted with kind permission of the Romance Review. A slightly modified version of chapter 2 has appeared as an article. It is reprinted with permission from the Romanic Review, volume 97, number 2, March, 2006. Copyright by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York. I thank Professor Umberto Sereni, mayor of Barga, Italy, for his kind permission to use the photograph of Giovanni Pascoli that appears on the jacket. I could not have made it through the challenging years of graduate school without the truly overwhelming support of friends. In spite of their own strenuous schedules, they found time to proofread, baby sit, substitute teach, return library books, and pick up groceries. I am profoundly grateful to Sherry,

Giovanni Pascoli (1855–1912) is one of Italy’s most canonical and beloved poets. In Beyond the Family Romance, Maria Truglio offers fresh insight into the uncanny qualities of Pascoli’s domestic verse. As suggested by the Freudian title, this study opens a dialogue between Pascoli’s literature and Freud’s theories, with a particular focus on each author’s interrogation of origins. Through close readings and historical contextualization, themes of regression, memory, and other manifestations of ‘origins’ are analyzed, moving Pascoli’s poetry beyond the biographical strictures that have hitherto confined it.

Truglio’s post-structuralist readings question the dichotomy between ‘safety within the home’ and the ‘threatening outside world,’ revealing the ambivalences with which images of the home are fraught in Pascoli’s poetry. In addition to the sustained comparison with Freud’s writing, Beyond the Family Romance explores parallels between Pascoli’s work and such writers as Tarchetti, Boito, Poe, and Invernizio. Rethinking the concept of the fanciullino (‘little child’), Truglio shows that Pascoli’s poetry enacts a symbiosis between the logic of the rational modern adult and the mythic vision of the child.

Giovanni Pascoli (1855?1912) is one of Italy?s most canonical and beloved poets. In Beyond the Family Romance, Maria Truglio offers fresh insight into the uncanny qualities of Pascoli?s domestic verse. As suggested by the Freudian title, this study opens a dialogue between Pascoli?s literature and Freud?s theories, with a particular focus on each author?s interrogation of origins. Through close readings and historical contextualization, themes of regression, memory, and other manifestations of?origins? are analyzed, moving Pascoli?s poetry beyond the biographical strictures that have hitherto confined it. Truglio?s post-structuralist readings question the dichotomy between?safety within the home? and the?threatening outside world,? revealing the ambivalences with which images of the home are fraught in Pascoli?s poetry. In addition to the sustained comparison with Freud?s writing, Beyond the Family Romance explores parallels between Pascoli?s work and such writers as Tarchetti, Boito, Poe, and Invernizio. Rethinking the concept of the fanciullino (?little child?), Truglio shows that Pascoli?s poetry enacts a symbiosis between the logic of the rational modern adult and the mythic vision of the child Contents 5 Acknowledgments 7 Introduction: Nesting Instincts 9 1. Foreshadowing: The Scapigliati and Psychoanalysis 32 2. Returning: The Poemi conviviali and the Uncanny 65 3. Positioning Pascoli in the Fin de Siècle: The Case of Infanticide 91 4. Envisioning Childhood: Memory, Desire, Pietas, and Play 115 5. Remembering the Golden Age 143 Conclusion: Reading beyond the Family Romance 167 Notes 169 Bibliography 199 Index 207