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Schema Frontespizio Teso Dottorato Università degli Studi di Cagliari DOTTORATO DI RICERCA Scuola di Dottorato in Studi Filologici e Letterari Ciclo XXVIII Gli animali nei Paralipomeni di Giacomo Leopardi e le Scienze Naturali Settore/i scientifico disciplinari di afferenza L-FIL-LET/10 Presentata da: Maria Luisa Pani Coordinatore Dottorato Prof.ssa Cristina Lavinio Tutor Prof.ssa Gonaria Floris Esame finale anno accademico 2015 – 2016 Tesi discussa nella sessione d’esame marzo – aprile 2017 La presente tesi è stata prodotta durante la frequenza del corso di dottorato in Studi Filologici e Letterari dell’Università degli Studi di Cagliari, a.a. 2015/2016 - XXVIII ciclo, con il supporto di una borsa di studio finanziata con le risorse del P.O.R. SARDEGNA F.S.E. 2007-2013 - Obiettivo competitività regionale e occupazione, Asse IV Capitale umano, Linea di Attività l.3.1 ‘Finanziamento di corsi di dottorato finalizzati alla formazione di capitale umano altamente specializzato, in particolare per i settori dell’ICT, delle nanotecnologie e delle biotecnologie, dell'energia e dello sviluppo sostenibile, dell'agroalimentare e dei materiali tradizionali’. Maria Luisa Pani gratefully acknowledges Sardinia Regional Government for the financial support of her PhD scholarship (P.O.R. Sardegna F.S.E. Operational Programme of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia, European Social Fund 2007-2013 - Axis IV Human Resources, Objective l.3, Line of Activity l.3.1.). 1 Università degli Studi di Cagliari DOTTORATO DI RICERCA Scuola di Dottorato in Studi Filologici e Letterari Ciclo XXVIII L-FIL-LET/10 Gli animali nei Paralipomeni di Giacomo Leopardi e le Scienze Naturali Presentata da Maria Luisa Pani Coordinatore Dottorato Prof.ssa Cristina Lavinio Tutor Prof.ssa Gonaria Floris Esame finale anno accademico 2015-2016 Tesi discussa nella sessione d’esame marzo-aprile 2017 2 INDICE 1. Dalle traduzioni della Batracomiomachia all’invenzione dei Paralipomeni p. 4 2. Gli animali tra Filosofia, Storie e Scienze Naturali all’epoca di Leopardi p. 26 2.1. Dalla descrizione all’interpretazione della Natura p. 33 2.2. I primi grandi trattati scientifici sugli animali p. 44 3. Sulle tracce del pensiero e dell’immaginario animale nell’opera leopardiana p. 75 3.1. Le Dissertazioni giovanili p. 75 3.2. La riflessione sulle bestie nello Zibaldone p. 115 3.3. Presenze animali nelle Operette morali p. 161 4. I personaggi dei Paralipomeni e le specie animali p. 176 4.1. Tratti distintivi dell’individuo e della specie p. 190 4.2. Habitat, società e linguaggio p. 217 4.3. L’anima delle bestie p. 265 Bibliografia p. 297 3 1. Dalle traduzioni della Batracomiomachia all’invenzione dei Paralipomeni In una lettera del 29 Dicembre 1817 Leopardi, in qualità di aspirante scrittore, esprimeva a Giordani la sua maturata convinzione circa il rapporto necessario che lega il comporre al tradurre e viceversa: mi pare d’essermi accorto che il tradurre così per esercizio vada veramente fatto innanzi al comporre, e o bisogni o giovi assai per divenire insigne scrittore, ma che per divenire insigne traduttore convenga prima aver composto ed essere bravo scrittore1. Traduzione e composizione sono da lui dinamicamente concepite come due attività complementari che sin dal primo insorgere e poi affermarsi dell’una e dell’altra si sostengono e arricchiscono reciprocamente. Anche le sue traduzioni della Batracomiomachia sembrerebbero contenere il germe e, in un certo senso, celare un lento processo generativo della successiva invenzione dei Paralipomeni. Tanto per cominciare, nel Discorso sopra la Batracomiomachia 2 Leopardi contesta l’attendibilità della tradizionale attribuzione ad Omero dell’operetta e ne sposta la datazione ad un’epoca non anteriore al terzo secolo 3 . Tale ‘perduta’ paternità non sminuirebbe comunque a suo avviso il valore del testo, tanto esso è divertente e interessante; non a caso, egli lo onorerà di una puntuale ricognizione dell’intera vicenda traduttoria dell’opera, prima di assumerne egli stesso l’impegno elaborandone, lungo 1 Giacomo Leopardi a Pietro Giordani (Recanati 29 Dicembre 1817), dall’Epistolario, in Tutte le poesie, tutte le prose e lo Zibaldone, a cura di Lucio Felici, Emanuele Trevi, Newton Compton, Roma 2010, pp. 1158-1159. Salvo eccezioni, d’ora in avanti, ogni rinvio agli scritti leopardiani deve intendersi riferito a questa edizione: mi limiterò pertanto a indicare direttamente sulla pagina accanto alla menzione o alla citazione del testo, il titolo dell’opera (abbreviato o meno) e il numero di pagina. 2 Il Discorso sopra la Batracomiomachia, scritto nel 1815, fu pubblicato il 31 Ottobre 1816 nello «Spettatore» di Milano, periodico edito da Antonio Fortunato Stella e diretto da Davide Bertolotti (1814 -1818), quale traduzione italiana del parigino «Le Spectateur», curato da Konrad Malte Brun (1814-1815). Alla cessazione dell'omonimo francese lo Stella avviò la propria edizione milanese che in seguito prese il nome di «Il Ricoglitore» (1820-24) e «Il Nuovo Ricoglitore» (1825-1833). 3 L’originario poemetto burlesco di 303 esametri, parodia dell’epica eroica, specialmente dell’Iliade, narra una guerra combattuta in un solo giorno tra topi e rane; fu attribuito anticamente ad Omero ma sarebbe di età posteriore, forse risalente al VI-IV secolo a.C. Cfr. Giacomo Leopardi, La guerra dei topi e delle rane, in Tutte le poesie, tutte le prose e lo Zibaldone, cit., p. 399; Omero minore Inni, Batracomiomachia, Epigrammi, Margite, trad. it. Ettore Romagnoli, Zanichelli, Bologna 1925, pp. 165-166; Massimo Fusillo Introduzione a Omero, La battaglia delle rane e dei topi. Batrachomyomachia, a cura di Massimo Fusillo, Guerini, Milano 1988, p. 19. 4 l’arco di un decennio, ben tre versioni italiane dal greco4. La Batracomiomachia, ossia la Guerra dei topi e delle rane, può veramente dirsi un’opera interessante. La bassezza dell’argomento non può farle perdere nulla del suo pregio (Discorso sopra la Batracomiomachia, p. 394). D’altronde, quasi a giustificare la propria intenzione traduttoria già con la libertà e la leggerezza che contraddistinguono il piacere ludico della creazione, Leopardi riprende un passo da Il riccio rapito di Pope5 per sostenere che un grande autore può qualche volta ricrearsi col comporre uno scritto giocoso, che generalmente gli spiriti più sublimi non sono nemici dello scherzo, e che il talento per la burla accompagna d’ordinario una bella immaginazione, ed è nei grandi ingegni, come sono spesso le vene di mercurio nelle miniere d’oro (Discorso sopra la Batracomiomachia, p. 395). Occorre aver presente che il 1816 è un anno fondamentale del periodo che Leopardi ricorderà come quello della sua conversione letteraria, ossia del suo passaggio dall’erudizione alla poesia6, per cui i classici non gli apparvero più tanto utili e preziosi ai fini di uno studio filologico quanto soprattutto quali modelli di poesia da conoscere e riproporre. 4 Per una più ampia riflessione di Leopardi sulla traduzione cfr. Agostino Lombardo, Sul Tradurre in La traduzione poetica nel segno di Giacomo Leopardi, Atti del I Simposio internazionale (Macerata, 29-30 Novembre 1988) a cura di Rosario Portale, Giardini editori e stampatori, Pisa 1992, pp. 35-43. 5 Alexander Pope (1688-1744), traendo ispirazione dalla Batracomiomachia pseudomerica, scrisse nel 1712 il poema eroicomico in cinque canti The Rape of the Lock (Il riccio rapito) che Leopardi possedette nella biblioteca di Recanati in una traduzione bolognese del 1822 di Teresa Carniani Malvezzi, successiva pertanto alla scrittura del Discorso sopra la Batracomiomachia. L’opera compare nel quarto Elenco di Letture in data Gennaio 1826, anno cioè più vicino alla scrittura dei Paralipomeni, per cui si presume che Leopardi l’abbia letta più di una volta: si veda il Catalogo della Biblioteca Leopardi in Recanati, (1847- 1899) a cura di Andrea Campana, Olschki, Firenze 2011, p. 222; Giacomo Leopardi, Elenco di letture IV, in Tutte le poesie, tutte le prose, cit., p. 1119; Raffaele Gaetano, Giacomo Leopardi e il sublime: archeologia e percorsi di una idea estetica, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2002, pp. 215-217. 6 Francesco De Sanctis, Giacomo Leopardi, a cura di Enrico Ghidetti, Editori Riuniti, Roma 1983, pp. 37- 41: ‘Qui entra nuova materia di studio, l’Episolario, fonte preziosissima di materiali, perché lo scrittore vi è colto ne’ più intimi secreti della sua anima […]. Di questo anno appunto sono le prime lettere. È chiaro che nell’anno 1816 egli si diede alle belle lettere, che prima non curava’; cfr. Sebastiano Timpanaro, La Filologia di Giacomo Leopardi, Laterza, Bari-Roma, 1978, p.19: ‘Nel ’15 avviene una svolta. È l’inizio di quella conversione letteraria che il Leopardi poi parlando di sé retrospettivamente, collocò all’inizio del ’16, ma che in realtà andò gradualmente svolgendo dal ’15 al ’19’. 5 Le circostanze mi avevan dato allo studio delle lingue, e della filologia antica. Ciò formava tutto il mio gusto: io disprezzava quindi la poesia. Certo non mancava d’immaginazione, ma non credetti d’esser poeta, se non dopo letti parecchi poeti greci. (Il mio passaggio però dall’erudizione al bello non fu subitaneo, ma gradato, cioè cominciando a notar negli antichi e negli studi miei qualche cosa più di prima ec. Così il passaggio dalla poesia alla prosa, dalle lettere alla filosofia. Sempre assuefazione). (Zib., pp. 1741-1742, 19 Sett.1821, p. 1836) Sono inoltre anni in cui egli coltiva la conoscenza di grandi scrittori moderni (da Alfieri a Parini a Foscolo a Monti a Goethe, Chateaubriand e Byron) intanto che attende ai lavori di traduzione dei classici (quali il primo libro dell’Odissea, il secondo dell’Eneide, la Titanomachia di Esiodo) o alla loro imitazione: la composizione lirica di Le rimembranze, L'Appressamento della morte, l’Inno a Nettuno, i Sonetti in persona di ser Pecora fiorentino beccaio, l'Elegia I, l’Elegia II e il Diario del primo amore. Nello stesso periodo inizia la corrispondenza con lo scrittore liberale Pietro Giordani, mentre si allontana dalla cultura reazionaria della sua prima formazione di stampo cattolico e comincia la stesura delle notazioni dello Zibaldone.
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