Dall' 'Impero del silenzio' all' 'esplosione degli ordigni': Da Napoleone a... o, fra D'Annunzio e Svevo (Italo Svevo, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Italian text)

This study explores the literary and cultural implications of two antithetical character types—the superman and l'inetto (the “inept” or self-negating individual)—as they recur in and dominate, respectively, the works of Gabriele D'Annunzio and Italo Svevo. An analysis concerned with such a characterological opposition inevitably takes the form of a double or doubling reading.; Chapter One undertakes a close reading of the first two novels by Svevo and two of D'Annunzio's novels. To voice my disagreement with traditional literary criticism which has relegated D'Annunzio and Svevo to opposite ends of the literary spectrum, I attempt to stage a confrontation between them that foregrounds their shared attempt to construct an “heroism” in keeping with modern life. The “superman” often proves to be “inept”, the “inept” often a “superman”—albeit by default.; Chapter Two responds to a recurrent, albeit inaccurate, criticism of D'Annunzio as an amateur narrator of sensations. I claim that sensations are D'Annunzio's instrument to counterbalance his fascination with death, a subject explored by Freud. Through a masterful description of impulses, D'Annunzio sublimates his unconscious death wish.; Chapter Three deals with humor in Svevo's La coscienza di Zeno from a Bakhtinian viewpoint. Zeno's humor is discussed as a carnival-like overturning of the establishment. Zeno, the purported inept, turns out to be a partial winner.; Chapter Four attempts to diagnose the historical context in which the authors operate, the subtext of which was the genesis of the Fascism, first made visible in the spectacle politics of D'Annunzio. The “inept” and “ubermensch” have a common origin in the fascination with Napoleon's glory and decline, shared by many authors in the 19th and early-20th centuries. I also describe the impact of positivism and other ideological currents upon their work. Svevo voices the necessity of moral uprightness in his work, finally fully explored in this work. D'Annunzio sets the stage for the upcoming fascism, his death wishes are staged in history.; I conclude the dissertation with a Jungian reading of the “inept” and “ubermensch”, regarding them as the “twins” of a collective archetype that is in conflict.