Just before his death in 1972, the Italian writer Ennio Flaiano wrote a short story entitled La pentultima cena (The Penultimate Supper) in which Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s painting The Roses of Heliogabalus (1888) is referenced and the “myth” of Heliogabalus itself comes to play a fundamental role in the construction of the narrative. Though the scene recreated by the characters in Flaiano’s short story may be interpreted as a mise en abyme, through the transformation of Alma-Tadema’s original image using different modes of writing – in particular narrative dialogues and ekphrasis – Flaiano actually critiques an elitist and anti-historical use of art in literature. Building on a reference that the narrator makes to the Decameron, I show how the ekphrasis hosts an ideological conflict that opposes the narrator’s interpretation of Heliogabalus’s feast to the one reproduced and staged during a fancy dinner held by members of Rome’s high-society.

Il maggior interesse della novella La penultima cena (1972) di Ennio Flaiano risiede nell’apparizione al suo interno di un famoso dipinto di Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, The Roses of Heliogabalus (1888). Il “mito” di Eliogabalo svolge un ruolo fondamentale nella costruzione della narrazione. La scena con cui i personaggi di Flaiano ricreano un banchetto romano può essere interpretata come una mise en abyme del dipinto stesso, ma attraverso diverse strategie retoriche – in particolare l’ekphrasis e il modo narrativo – che trasformano l’immagine originale, Flaiano giunge in realtà a criticare la validità di un uso elitistico ed a-storico dell’arte nel discorso letterario. In particolare, riprendendo l’evocazione al Decameron fatta dal narratore, dimostro come l’ekphrasis sia suscettibile di un’interpretazione in senso ideologico, che vede contrapporre la lettura di quel dipinto da parte del narratore all’uso fatto di quell’immagine da parte della società romana più ricca.

Ekphrasis and Narrative, or the Ideological Critique of Artworks: Alma-Tadema, Ennio Flaiano and the Legacy of Heliogabalus

GALLERANI, GUIDO MATTIA
2016

Abstract

Just before his death in 1972, the Italian writer Ennio Flaiano wrote a short story entitled La pentultima cena (The Penultimate Supper) in which Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s painting The Roses of Heliogabalus (1888) is referenced and the “myth” of Heliogabalus itself comes to play a fundamental role in the construction of the narrative. Though the scene recreated by the characters in Flaiano’s short story may be interpreted as a mise en abyme, through the transformation of Alma-Tadema’s original image using different modes of writing – in particular narrative dialogues and ekphrasis – Flaiano actually critiques an elitist and anti-historical use of art in literature. Building on a reference that the narrator makes to the Decameron, I show how the ekphrasis hosts an ideological conflict that opposes the narrator’s interpretation of Heliogabalus’s feast to the one reproduced and staged during a fancy dinner held by members of Rome’s high-society.
2016
Gallerani, GUIDO MATTIA
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/576741
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