The essay analyses Dantean references in Salvatore Satta's “Il giorno del giudizio”, investigating in particular the meanings of the “catabasis” in the memorial spaces and the ways of representing any single character's story. In a synchronic perspective – that of doomsday – it's up to the author to select what is meaningful and gives sense to an entire life. Something must be left out, but what is distilled, the synthesis, can become writing only after life – which is nothing but an ephemeral prefiguration – have found in death its reality and its fulfilment: Satta's writing becomes the where and when of the judgment. In the novel, however, there is no distinction between the damned and the blessed, there is no salvation nor redemption: in “Il giorno del giudizio” the protagonists will be “absolved or condemned” all together, and their “ridiculous god” with them. Salvatore Satta retains the Christian sense of the original sin, but denies the possibility of salvation. The souls in Nuoro recognize in the judgment the moment when their convulsive motion ceases. The “ridiculous god” is the author precisely for immortalizing them through the force of writing, embodying them in his writing and so putting an end to the circle in which their lives were imprisoned. Writing delivers them from sin and from the law: the judgment at last takes place.
STRATEGIE NARRATIVE DANTESCHE IN SALVATORE SATTA
CANNAS, ANDREA
2007-01-01
Abstract
The essay analyses Dantean references in Salvatore Satta's “Il giorno del giudizio”, investigating in particular the meanings of the “catabasis” in the memorial spaces and the ways of representing any single character's story. In a synchronic perspective – that of doomsday – it's up to the author to select what is meaningful and gives sense to an entire life. Something must be left out, but what is distilled, the synthesis, can become writing only after life – which is nothing but an ephemeral prefiguration – have found in death its reality and its fulfilment: Satta's writing becomes the where and when of the judgment. In the novel, however, there is no distinction between the damned and the blessed, there is no salvation nor redemption: in “Il giorno del giudizio” the protagonists will be “absolved or condemned” all together, and their “ridiculous god” with them. Salvatore Satta retains the Christian sense of the original sin, but denies the possibility of salvation. The souls in Nuoro recognize in the judgment the moment when their convulsive motion ceases. The “ridiculous god” is the author precisely for immortalizing them through the force of writing, embodying them in his writing and so putting an end to the circle in which their lives were imprisoned. Writing delivers them from sin and from the law: the judgment at last takes place.
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