Paolo Colombo
Università degli Studi di Verona (paolo.colombo@univr.it; ORCID: 0000-0002-6235- 3253)
«Chiamare le cose coi loro nomi». Leopardi, Casti and the dreadful book
Abstract: Referring to the well-known definition coined by Vincenzo Gioberti for the Paralipomeni della Batracomiomachia, the contribution aims to isolate and explore the more distinctly negative elements of the poem, within which Leopardi’s skepticism towards any form of political initiative seems to reach conclusions unknown to his earlier works and partially unprecedented even in the context of the “new poetics” of the 1830s. A specific area of investigation will consist in reexamining the influence exerted by Giovan Battista Casti’s Animali parlanti, whose documented impact on Leopardi has only been partially explored in this particular direction, as highlighted by some recent studies.
Keywords: Animali parlanti; Giacomo Leopardi; Giovan Battista Casti; Irony; Paralipomeni della Batracomiomachia.