TIME AND (E)MOTION IN VITTORINI'SCONVERSAZIONE IN SICILIA

Abstract

Vittorini's frequent emblematic references to the ‘quarta dimensione’, the superimposition of remembered upon present reality, catch the reader's interest almost as much as his insistence on the theme of the ‘mondo offeso’, or the human condition. These two concepts are intimately connected. In CONVERSAZIONE IN SICILIA, the complex amalgamation of past experience and present identity is the primary task of the protagonist-narrator in his search for meaning. For Silvestro, as for the reader, the very concept of ‘mondo offeso’ can only acquire universal, as opposed to merely topical significance by entering into a hyper-time environment where allusions cease to be merely historical, and all existence is archetypal. The ‘quarta dimensione’ provides the symbolic ‘dizionario’ to translate private observation into a holistic understanding of the ‘mondo offeso’.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 3 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.