L’Italia nei limerick

• Authors: Tarnogórska Maria

Title variants

EN

Italy in Limericks

• Languages of publication: IT

Abstracts

IT

Lo scopo del seguente articolo è quello di presentare l’immagine comica dell’Italia che emerge dalla produzione inglese e polacca di limerick. Conformemente alle regole proprie del genere, nell’ambito di tale produzione l’Italia diviene un teatro atto a mostrare eventi e personaggi caratterizzati dal puro nonsenso. La riflessione condotta dall’autrice si concentra su quattro questioni fondamentali: 1. il ruolo d’avanguardia svolto da "A Book of Nonsense" (1846) di Edward Lear, in cui per la prima volta furono usati toponimi italiani, così come trovarono riflesso le esperienze italiane del suo autore, pittore di paesaggi affascinato dall’Italia nonché attento osservatore della strana “natura” umana, iscritta nelle usanze locali; 2. la cartina d’Italia, umoristicamente disegnata, creata sulla base di raccolte rappresentative e antologie di limerick; 3. personaggi storici, specialmente quelli legati alla storia “gloriosa” dell’Impero Romano, la cui immagine nei limerick si discosta nettamente dalle loro biografie ufficiali e manualistiche; 4. la presenza dell’italiano moderno nonché del latino classico nella fabula dei limerick, che acquista in tal modo non solo valenze fonetiche estremamente importanti per la struttura della strofa, ma al contempo si pone in contrasto con i contenuti spesso “indecenti” del testo, contrasto da cui deriva l’effetto di comica sorpresa. Gli aspetti menzionati della presenza letteraria dell’Italia, associati al lustro di una grande civiltà e ad una ricca cultura che risale all’Antichità confermano, nell’opera degli autori inglesi e polacchi, la tesi sul carattere raffinato del genere in questione, giustamente ricondotto dagli studiosi al campo dello scherzo intellettualistico.

EN

This article presents the comic images of Italy that transpire from Italy’s representation in the English- and Polish-language limerick. In accordance with the rules of the genre, Italy becomes a stage for nonsense characters and actions. The outlined literary motifs of Italy, a country normally connoting high civilisation and a historically rich culture, studied in Polish- and English-language authors, confirm the sophisticated nature of the genre, popular in intelligentsia circles. The article focuses on the following four areas: 1. the pioneering role of Edward Lear’s "A Book of Nonsense" (1846), which, for the first time in limerick form, features names of Italian localities as well as the ‘Italian’ experiences of Lear himself, a landscape painter and English expatriate who was not only enchanted by Italy but was also a sensitive observer of the alien human ‘habitat’ created by locally cherished customs; 2. a humorously conceived ‘map’ of Italy to be crafted on the basis of representative collections and anthologies of limericks; 3. historical figures—especially those connected with the proud history of the Roman Empire, whose limerick image is far removed from its official textbook biographies; 4. the presence of contemporary Italian language (associated with musicality and elegance) and classical Latin (associated with high education) in the limerick narration, contrasting with the frequently bawdy content of the verse, which is a source of humour.

Keywords

IT

Edward Lear; Italia nei limerick; limerick geografico; umorismo del nonsense; umorismo intellettualistico

EN

Edward Lear; Italy in limericks; geographical limerick; nonsense humour; intelligentsia humour

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek
• Journal: Italica Wratislaviensia
• Year: 2020
• Issue: 11.2
• Pages: 163-188

Dates

published

2020-11-30

received

2020-09-09

accepted

2020-09-19

Contributors

author

Tarnogórska Maria

• Uniwersytet Wrocławski, Polonia

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Identifiers

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/IW.2020.11.2.9