italian romanticism myth vs history

7/28/2019 Italian Romanticism Myth vs History

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Italian Romanticism: Myth vs HistoryAuthor(s): Franco FerrucciSource: MLN, Vol. 98, No. 1, Italian Issue (Jan., 1983), pp. 111-117Published by: The Johns Hopkins University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2905820 .

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NOTEItalian Romanticism:

Myth vs HistoryFranco Ferrucci

The modernnotionofhistorywas born in Italy, s elsewhere,betweenthelateEnlightenmentnd thefirstwaveofRomanticism. he effects fsucha culturalrevolutionare visible n the threemajor Italian writers f theromanticperiod: Foscolo, Leopardi, and Manzoni.Each of thesewritershas somethingdifferent o say about history ndwhathistorys about. They are allwitnessinghedirection hathistorys aliterary enre is taking:itstransformationnto a systematic tudyof thepast,thusmoreof a science thana creativegenrewithmoralpurposesas ithad been considered since ancient times and it was still viewed byChateaubriand in thoseyears.In a page of his philosophical ournal Zibaldone I, 144) Leopardi ac-knowledges uch transformationnd writes:

"... il mondo umano e divenuto come il naturale, bisogna studiare gliavvenimentiome istudianofenomeni,immaginaree forzemotricindandoa tastoni ome fisici. al che si pu6 vederequantosia scemata 'utilita ellastoria.""... the world of mankind has become similarto the world of nature, it isnecessaryto studyhuman events as scientific henomena are studied, and toimaginetheirdrivingforces as the physicists o, gropingand experimenting.Fromthisfactone can see howweakened has become history's sefulness.With his usual sharpness, Leopardi later observes that the very namehistorys a contradictory one. He recalls that Aristotle had given the label of

MLNVol. 98 Pp. 111-1170026-7910/83/0981-0111 01.00 ? 1983 byThe JohnsHopkinsUniversity ress


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112 FRANCO FERRUCCI

historyeven to natural science; a label surviving today in the definition of"natural history". According to Leopardi, science is concerned with whatdoes not change, like nature, history with what changes, like humanevents; the two terms are never put together unless they are misun-derstood. There is here a pre-Darwinian idea of nature as immutable and apre-scientificidea of historyas being mainly a "narration". I shall focus onthe latter, the former being beyond the scope of the present investigation.Let us pause in order to realize that the word "history" is in fact contradic-tory,and far more so than Leopardi suspected. History is both the tale anda study of the tale; the paradox is even clearer in Italian where the termstoria is also used to signifya children's tale or even an invented presenta-tion of reality (as in the French histoireor in the German Geschichte). donot want to deal with the philosophical implication of such ambiguity; it issufficient here to say that for Leopardi storia s a tale which is turning into ascience, as a youth grows into an adult: acquiring knowledge and re-nouncing illusions.There is another well known passage from Zibaldone that abundantlyproves this point (25 novembre 1822,II, 21-22):"La storia greca, romana ed ebrea contengono le reminiscenze delle ideeacquistate da ciascuno nella prima fanciullezza.... Quindi lo interesse che

ispirano e dette torie, loroparti, tutto i6che loroappartiene;interesse niconel suo genere,come fu osservato da Chateaubriand (Genieetc.); interessechenon pu6 mai esserci ispiratoda verun' altra storia,sia anche pii bella, varia,grande,e per se pii importantedelle sopraddette;sia anche piu importantepernoi,come le storienazionali. Le suddettetresono le piu interessantierchesono lepiu note . ."."Greek,Roman andJewishhistoryontain the memoriesof the deas acquiredbyeach man in early childhood.... Hence these historiesand their parts andeverything hat belongs to them inspire an interestunique in its genre, asChateaubriand observed(Genie tc.); an interest hatcannotbe inspired n us byany other history, e it even more beautiful,varied, great and in itselfmoreimportant hanthose mentionedabove, or be iteven more important orus, asare out national "histories".The three mentioned above are the most nterestingbecause they re the best known . .".History and poetry seem to resemble each other; they both share thebasic characteristic of being the memory f mankind, at both the collectiveand the individual level. Of course a modern historiographer would notdeny that: but his attitude would be one of interpretation instead of trust.It is the same difference that separates today the notion of history from

that of myth.This is the point of conflict that we are tryingto locate. It is a conflict thatLeopardi inherits from the Italian 18th century more than from theromantic movement which he quickly dismissed and shunned. The Italian18th century presents a twofold recreation of the mythical presence; as adecorative ornament of culture (also visible throughout the painting of the


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M L N 113period) itwas called mythologynd this s theword we find n Leopardi,whiletheclosestequivalentto thewordmythn Zibaldone isstoria.Wheredid themerging fmyth nd history akeplace?Again inthe 18th entury,inthe workofG. B. Vico,whosemessagewasreceived nthesame formbyFoscolo and Leopardi. La storia s thememoryof the past in the form ofmyth nd poetry; tbecomes a sciencein momentsof scarcevitality, heneverythingecomes"reasonable"and "rational", .e. without aringor pas-sion. For Leopardi, as for Foscolo, history s a mythologya fable) thatattains convincing evel: the level of myth hatonlypoets can reach. Ifthis s true, it could also explain whyin our post-romanticdiom storiameans at thesame timea truth nd a lie.One ofthemostfamouspassages in Foscolo is thepage ofhisacademicinauguration n Pavia where he addresses the Italian people and urgesthemto turnto theirpast. Here is whathe says:

"O italiani, o viesortoalle storie,percheniunpopolo pit di voi pu6 mostrarenepiui alamitada compiangere,ne pit errorida evitare,ne piiuvirtuihe vifaccianorispettare,ne piiu grandi anime degne di essere liberate dalla oblivione dachiunque di noi sa che si deve amare e difendere ed onorare la terrache funutrice i nostripadried a noi,e che dara pace e memoriaalle nostre eneri.Io viesorto alle storie, perche angusta e l'arena degli oratori; e chi ormai pu6contendervi a poetica palma? Ma nelle storie tutta i spiega la nobilta dello stile,tutti liaffetti ella virtu, utto 'incantodella poesia,tutti precetti ella sapienza,tutti progressi i benemeritidell' italianosapere.""Italians,I exhortyou to go back to thememories of history ecause there hasnever been a people who, more than you, can show more adversities to bedeplored, more errorsto be avoided, more virtuesforwhichto be respected,morenoble spirits,worthy f being freed fromoblivion,byanyone (of us) whoknows hatthe and thatnourished us and our forefathers,he and thatwillgivepeace, and keep the memoryof our ashes, has to be loved, honoured anddefended. I urgeyoutogo backtothememoriesofhistory ecause therhetoricalforumhas narrowed;and who can now competewithyou forthepoetic laurel?But it s in historyhat all thenobility f thestyle, ll theaffects fvirtue, ll theenchantments f poetry,all the teachingsof wisdom, all the progress,all theachievements f the Italian knowledgeare so fullymanifested."

It is theterm toriewhich s therevealingone. Foscolo's exhortation o theItalians stogo backto estorie otto a storia: historianwould notuse oneword for heother.Storia s a sciencehas no pluralform;but toria s a talehasone indeed.Le storie re theeventsofthepastconceivedand presentedas legends (etymologically: the things to be read) of a nation, thememorabiliawhich are not to be questioned or interpretedbut simplyre-enacted.Vico'sthought sactingon Foscolo evenmoredirectlyhanon Leopardi.Contemporary o the above quoted lines is the long poem I Sepolcri,hiswidelyrecognizedmasterpiece;here history laysa monumentalrole andit s presentednotas an investigation ut as an acceptanceof thepast. By


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114 FRANCO FERRUCCIdefinition myth s to be eitheraccepted or refused: ifone triesto inter-pret tallegoricallyt s evidentthatthe elementoffaith s no longerthere.The figuresof thegreat Italians evoked byFoscolo inI Sepolcri hare theessence of mythical ppearances: theyexist beyond investigation, heysimply re, like ancientmonuments, r forcesof nature. The factthatweare sure theyhave existedmakes the mythpossible since it makes it be-lievable: whichalso explains whymodern mythologiesneed a historicalbackground norder to survive.They are dealingwith massivepresenceof history nd attemptto transformt into a belief.The nation s one ofthese beliefs.We are close to the identificationof the split that occurs betweenLeopardi and Foscolo. They both think of history essentially as amythological ecreation of the past, as a collectivepoetryof mankind.They diverge on one fundamental ssue: the mythological ecreation spossibleforFoscolo,not anymoreforLeopardi. We are notcopingwithminor divergence: the entire modern culture has been severed by thiscontrast.At the time of theSepolcri nd of the Discorsonaugurale,Foscoloseems to have traced the territoryf a new mythology: he history f theItalianpeople, supporting herisingmyth fthenation.Something f thatkind was happeningall overEurope in the aftermath f theFrenchRevo-lutionand of theNapoleonic conquests. For the momentancientGreece(oftenmentioned n I Sepolcri)providesthebackground,waiting o enterthe scene as the protagonistof a new mythological ebirth:the one at-temptedby Foscolo in his last and unfinishedpoem Le Grazie.Le Grazie,just like thepaintings f David and thesculpturesofCanova, are inspireddirectly y hellenicmythology,heyall share the fateof similarcontem-poraryexperiments n neo-classicism.There is a word that appears both in Leopardi's and Foscolo's workswhich stheequivalentofwhatwe call "myth": t s the term illusions".ToFoscolo illusions ppear necessary, o Leopardi foolish;thusLeopardi willneveraccept the modernmythologyfnationalism r anyothereffort ocreate a "progressivefaith"that triesto explain the fate ofmankind.It would not be correctto assume that we are witnessing case of con-trast etween "sentimental" oet in theschillerian ense (Leopardi) and a"naive" one (Foscolo): the distinctionwould ratherbe between a senti-mentalpoet (stillLeopardi) and a poet (likeFoscolo) who triesveryhardtobe naive and to give new life to a mythby believingin it. Leopardi iscontemplating world n which ancientmyths re dead and modernonesdo not provide inspiration:the above quoted paragraph declaring thesuperiority f "Greek, Roman and Jewishhistory" ver the nationalhis-tories here Leopardi uses thepluralstorie)might ven be a directanswerto Foscolo's statement bout the need to go back to the Italian storienordertocreate a modernmythology, hich s,a modernpoetry.Leopardiacceptstherole ofthe "sentimental" oet,the nspiredphilosopherwhoisconscious of living in a rational civilisationwhere myths re dead and


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M L N 115

historydoes not seem to make much sense. Both positionswill have afuture nd each willopen the road forgenerationsto come.Another writer,Manzoni, was coping in those same years with thedialecticalrelationshipbetweenmyth nd history.He does not attempt orecreate classic pagan) mythology or to found a newmythologyf thenation althoughhe writes fewpatriotic oems): hismythologysa Chris-tianone. Being a believer,Manzoni would not call the Christianfaith amyth",nonethelesshis firstmajor creativeeffort the Inni Sacri) is theequivalentof Foscolo's return to the classic myth n Le Grazie (the twoworksbelong to the same years). The events of the nni Sacri (evoked byManzoni)are all takenfrom heGospelsand are themythological eservoirof the Christiantradition. t is veryrevealingthatthe last poem of theunfinished eries,La Pentecoste,ook so many yearsto complete.La Pen-tecosteeals withthespread of theChristian eachingand the birthof theChurchas a social institution:we are here at the pointof separationbe-tween Christianitys a myth the New Testament) and the historyofChristianity.Manzoni's mythological ttempt ntersa crisiswhen historyappears.Manzoni boldlyaccepts the challenge. Afterthe Inni Sacri history s apervasivepresence nhiswork.Of thetwotragediesAdelchi s rooted ntheMiddle Ages, I Contedi Carmagnolan Renaissance Italy. They both pre-sent nsolubleconflicts fChristian haracters rushedbythe violencethatrules theworld. n bothcases Manzoni'sconclusions eem to be thatChris-tianity annot prevail in thisworld: his heroes finallydie willingly ndwithout egrets.History s the territoryhathas to be crossed and finallyabandoned whenthepromised and is near and myths there to directthepilgrims.Manzoni'smasterpiece, Promessiposi, sa furthertep nthisdialecticalconfrontation.n his novelManzoni attemptsno less thana reconciliationof myth nd history. taged in 17thcenturyLombardy,it presentstheChurch as the actual winner in the midst of worldlyevents, largelybecause of the ncompetenceof itsopponents,but also because oftheper-sistent ppeal of itsmythological oundation. f theChurch can win oversociety, mythcan overcome history. In order to achieve this result,Manzoni was obliged to performa continuous, subtle manipulationofthe historicalmaterial he had selected, presenting t in a biased light,or simplyobliterating mportant aspects of it. The manipulation hasbeen well documented and it is not my purpose to deal with thispartof theproblem.I wantto stress hatManzoni is certainly,mong thewriterswe have mentioned so far, the most "historically"minded; hiscuriosity orhistorys almosta professionalone, his passion forarchivesand forthe reconstruction f the sequence of past events s unknowntobothFoscolo and Leopardi.Paradoxicallyenough, the crisisbetween mythand historywill occuragain when Manzoni comes to the conclusion that it is not possible to


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116 FRANCO FERRUCCIoverlook the claimof history o be a science; this eads to thedismissalofthe historicalnovel in theDiscorso ul romanzotorico.t is understandablewhyManzoni presentsthe crisisin the form of an oppositionbetweenhistorical cruples and artistic mpulses: he cannot admit thatthe basiccontrast s betweenthehistorian'sdesire for truth nd thebeliever'sneedfor reassurance. If Manzoni condemns the historicalnovel it mightbebecause he realizes,half consciously, hat it would be difficult o createanothergreatnovel in whichtheChurchwould assume such a prominentrole.The historicalnovel willhave a chance to survive n Italythroughthesubstitutionf themyth fpatriotism or themyth fcatholicism.n mod-ern societynationalism s a more powerfuldrive thanreligion; twas par-ticularly o in Italyand Germany,when in thecourse of the 19thcenturytheybothachievedgeographicalunity. n thesetwocountriesRomanticismand Nationalism are entangled in a way impossibleelsewhere; althoughthe aggressiveconnotationof nationalismwillbe absent from taliancul-ture untilD'Annunzio.I willrapidlyexplore the twomajor achievementsn thisdirection.Oneis Nievo's long novel Le Confessioniiun Italiano. The idea is to conceive ahistoricalnarrationas an autobiographicalone: it is Rousseau added toManzoni,the twowritersmost dmiredbyNievo. Following he ong ifeoftheprotagonistwe are broughttowitness he birthof a nation,and in theosmosis,history inds new ustification. he myth elongsto thepresentnotto thepast; whichaccounts fortheoptimistic,lmost ubilantmood ofNievo's narration.WithNievo we are led one stepfurthern the relation-ship of myth nd history.Once history s accepted as not being in con-tradictionwithour hopes we observe a phenomenonthat willgrowvasterand vasterin modern civilisation, he sudden appearance of a childhooddistinguishedfrom the adult world of historical vents. The whole first(and most famous) section of Nievo's Confessionis the memoryof theprotagonistas a child who, characteristically,ives among rural gentryimmobilized nd secluded fromthemovementof history,s is childhooditself. n decadent literature hisseparationwillbe seen as an irreducibleopposition,generating egrets nd nostalgiafora mythicalndividualpast.Nievo is still haringtheromantic ttitude oward theorigins: they re thehorizon ofour fullfillment,memory nd a premonition tthe same time.The secondgreatachievement s theStoria ellaLetteraturatalianabythemostfamous Italian critic,Francesco De Sanctis. I do not hesitateto callthisworkone of the major historicalnovels of 19th century iterature.The entiredevelopmentof Italianculturethroughout hecenturies sseenas a growing iving rganism earchingfor tsmeaningand for ts nationalidentity.A greatEntwicklungarration, heStoriabyDe Sanctispresentsprotagonists the great authors of Italian literature)who have both amythical nd a historical tatus, ike theheroes of ancientepic poetry.DeSanctis and Nievo have found a momentary quilibriumbetweenmyth


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M L N 117and history, ased on the patriotic nthusiasmof a youngnationand onthecredibilityfwhattheynarrate.Born laterin Italythan in otherEuropean countriesRomanticismwilllastthere as long as the searchfor nationalunity. n thelatterpartof thecentury newphase of the dialecticrelationship etweenmyth nd historywill take place and will find new protagonists.The only myth eft,thenationalone, will become more and more aggressiveas if historyweretrying o suffocate t.Rutgers University

italian romanticism myth vs history

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