Intorno alla cornice e al senso del ‘falso’ lombrosiano di Paolo Bellezza su Manzoni

Abstract

The essay aims at reconstructing the cultural framework within which Paolo Bellezza produced Genio e follia di Alessandro Manzoni (1898) – an imitation in a parodic key of an essay of clinical criticism –, delving into the author’s relations with the “scuola storica” (with Arturo Graf above all) and with Lombroso. It then focuses on Bellezza’s use of certain medical technicalities, sign of their circulation especially in the specialized literature. Finally, it reconceives Bellezza’s falsifying operation within the broader interpretative category of humour, of which the writer is a theorist (Humour, 1901).