Patologia del genio e malattia della cultura: Zola sul tavolo anatomico

Abstract

The article examines the case of Émile Zola’s pathobiography, which became the subject of international debate following the clinical inquiry conducted by a young physician from the Villejuif asylum, Édouard Toulouse. In Italy and abroad, much of the criticism of Lombroso’s theories including that of his colleague, anthropologist, and long-time adversary Paolo Mantegazza - would come to focus on Zola’s pathobiography. The essay investigates the different perspectives on the role of the literary text in medicalscientific analysis, showing how, around an unwieldy set of symptoms, what is at stake is not only the question of genius but also the broader image of fin-de-siècle literature as a whole.