«Dei nervosismi del Foscolo son pieni i libri». Il poeta e gli alienisti

Abstract

This essay explores the pathological interpretations to which Foscolo’s life and work were subjected, particularly in the Age of Positivism. It focuses on the image of the poet conveyed by Cesare Lombroso in Genius and Madness and Criminal Man and by Paolo Mantegazza, who conducted a craniological analysis on Foscolo’s remains. The study also reflects on how literary identity can be shaped by the scientific paradigms of its time, examining how Foscolo and his Ortis were read through the lens of the New Science by writers such as Igino Ugo Tarchetti and Luigi Capuana, and by the critic Arturo Graf.