Retorica e alchimia. Cagliostro personaggio letterario

Among late 18th-century and 19th-century, count Alessandro Cagliostro enjoyed a varied and notorious reputation in European literatures. To some authors, he was a mystical miracle man, a thaumaturge who could heal afflictions, contact the spirit world, and teach his adepts the mysterious secrets of the ancient Egypt. To others, he seemed to be an outright charlatan, a mountebank who defrauded his patrons and played upon the popular fascination for the supernatural. To still others, Cagliostro was a dangerous conspirator engaged in nefarious political plans to destroy both throne and altar. Throughout Europe for two centuries, supporters and opponents of Cagliostro exchanged fiery polemics. This essay focuses on Cagliostro’s images circulated in theatre plays and novels from the French Revolution to early 20thcentury, and it examines different literary works by German-speaking intellectuals and French writers, with a section devoted to Russian historical novel.