Epics and Hypermodern in "Mistero napoletano"

Abstract

Discussing the presence of epic in the structure of Ermanno Rea’s narrative diary Mistero napoletano (1995) and identifying its epic features are main goals for this paper. In order to do this, in the first section time will be considered as one of main themes in Mistero napoletano; moreover, I will illustrate how this text as a form represents something different to diary-journal and diary novel, arriving at the definition of narrative diary. In the central section the presence of epic in Mistero napoletano will be discussed through certain elements, such as Hamburger’s epic preterite, the reformulation of some traditional epic schemes (the contrast between Old and New,the sense of disproportion, the relationship between the individual and its community, the sense of death in the latter’s value system, the author’s hypoindividuality, etc.), the “political” reading of Mistero napoletano by La Capria, who refers to the presence of epic in Rea’s text in negative terms as something motivated only ideologically. In the last section the discussion on epic in Mistero napoletano will be accompanied by a reading of this text within the hypermodern literary theory; moreover, it will observed how the epic structure of Mistero napoletano fits well with what Donnarumma describes.