Between Idillic Remembrance and Ironic Elevation: the Literary Function of Epic Memories in the "Confessioni d'un italiano"

Abstract

In his Le Confessioni d’un Italiano, result of both structural and stylistic elements that can be traced back to different literary genres, Nievo weaves a noticeable relationship with the epic tradition. This link is detectable in numerous passages and at different levels: from Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso and Tasso’s Gerusalemme Liberata, which stand out amongst Clara’s most beloved books for her nightly readings, to their ironic reuse in the work’s onomastics, from the humorous comparison between Carlino and Pisana’s raids in the nearby of the castle of Fratta and the adventures of the paladins, to the Don Quixote’s echo to disprove the youthful illusions of the novel’s protagonist-narrator.