«Cognata, avete orrore di me?». Sul Malatestino di d’Annunzio

Abstract

Bound by the environment where the problems are settled with blood, Malatestino slaughters the Parcitade, left to him in custody by Guido Malatesta. Dante places him with his father in the eighth circle, where flames envelop fraudulent people (they are the «mastiffs» that «fan d’i denti succhio», Inf. XXVII 48). From here d’Annunzio recovers him to make a key character of his Francesca da Rimini, the real troublemaker and «executioner» who sends the woman to hell. We propose a reflection on D’Annunzio’s lexicon of vengeful justice in the light of dantisms and variants.