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Rebellion to the Gods : dialogue and conflict with tradition in the poetry of Amelia Rosselli from 'Primi Scritti' to 'Variazioni belliche'

This thesis focuses on Intertexuality in the Poetry of Amelia Rosselli from Primi Scritti (1952-1963) to Variazioni belliche (1959-1961). The research is based on the annotated books of the author's personal library kept in the Fondo Rosselli of Viterbo and of her personal documents, letters and original typescripts of her works held in the Centro Manoscritti Autori Moderni e Contemporanei of the University of Pavia. Rosselli's annotations are studied for the first time and they have proved to be essential for the interpretation of her poetry. Rosselli's aspiration to Gesamtskunstwerk is reflected in the composition of her library which ranges from musicology, quantum physics, Gestalt psychology, history of art and philosophy. I explored the influence of these disciplines in her work adopting an interdisciplinary approach. In particular I concentrate on the influence that her studies in etnomusicology have had on the style of her poetry. The theoretical framework of Julia Kristeva and Gian Biagio Conte enable me to draw two main intertexual strategies in Rosselli's poetry: the intertexuality of harmonics, and parody. Rosselli's use of literary allusion is a very original one: it is based on her work as a musicologist, which she articulates in the essay La serie degli armonici. In this essay Rosselli studied natural harmonics in music. Allusions develop into an intertextual fugue creating a mì‚se en abyme effect. Another type of allusion is the parody in which the poetic I acting as the fool challenges the literary fathers of Tradition in order to find her own space in the canon. The study of intertextuality has also some important consequences on a literary hystoriographic perspective: I recognized in her poetry what Detloff called 'the persistence of Modernism'. Her work like the one of Anglo-American modernists is characterized by a form of resilience to trauma and loss. Like the literature of survivors, Rosselli's deals with the expression of inexpressible, the fragmentation of the poetic I, and the will of re-writing her own story to overcome trauma. The ultimate result is a political and ethical cry for social justice, symphathy and peace.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:669798
Date January 2014
CreatorsCarpita, Chiara
ContributorsTandello, Emmanuela
PublisherUniversity of Oxford
Source SetsEthos UK
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Sourcehttps://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:ae1a9f6e-4503-4ea1-9a8f-83344a818077

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