© 2015 Marino Forlino ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ESOTERICO, EROTICO, ESOTICO: LA “CUNTAMINAZIONE” DEL PENTAMERONE By MARINO FORLINO A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Italian Written under the direction of Professor Laura Sanguineti White And approved by ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey OCTOBER, 2015 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION ESOTERICO, EROTICO, ESOTICO: LA “CUNTAMINAZIONE” DEL PENTAMERONE By MARINO FORLINO Dissertation Director Professor Laura Sanguineti White My dissertation investigates the relationship that Boccaccio’s Decameron and Basile’s less-studied Lo cunto de li cunti: overo lo trattenemiento de’ peccerille establish with the heritage of A Thousand and One Nights by focusing on a triad of motifs (esotericism, eroticism, and exoticism) through which the Arabic prose tradition is subsumed in the Italian literary tradition. Through a comparative and critical approach of these particular collections, my dissertation both highlights the importance of Italian language and literature in the contemporary academy and challenges the cultural stereotypes that continue to blur the lens through which many still approach Arabic heritage. In Chapter 1, I analyze the three collections in terms of structure and content (the cornice novellistica and the power of words) with constant references to criticism and literary theory, demonstrating how Boccaccio and Basile’s narrative frameworks emulate the structural and thematic organization of the Arabic masterpiece. In Chapter 2, I further examine recurrent esoteric elements such as enchantment, alchemy, black magic, genies, ii ghosts, ogres and other fantastical creatures and explore the relationship between reale and fiabesco, two specular categories the combination of which aims at describing the extra/ordinary world of the seventeenth century. Chapter 3 is devoted to the role of love, sexuality and licentiousness in these texts as categories that provide insight into the evolving mores and transitional natures of their societies; particular attention is devoted to the many forms and different functions of similar, if not identical, sexual metaphors present in all three narrative collections, and to the phenomenology of love, the antecedents of which harken back to the Arab tradition of Ibn Sina and Ibn Hazm and the principles and ideas of which emerge in texts like the Decameron and Lo cunto de li cunti. In Chapter 4, I scrutinize the representation of the “Orient” in all three collections, arguing that even in the Arabic text itself, the Eastern setting of the tales remains only a fictive space that can be easily interchanged with a more westernized space. iii Acknowledgements My years at Rutgers University have been unique and there are not enough words to express my gratitude to all the people, friends, colleagues, and professors with whom I have had the privilege to study and work throughout my graduate studies. I am also grateful to my family who has believed in my American dream and supported me in my travels around Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and the United States. I thank my parents for teaching me that another world is possible and that education sets us free. In particular, I thank my sister, Rosanna, instancabile Shahrazâd. Her fervor for reading and writing has disclosed to my eyes worlds far away and exotic. My passion for travel comes from the books that she used to read to me and the stories she would invent for my brothers. Through her I discovered the Arabian Nights, Boccaccio and the Baroque, and to her I dedicate this work. I am indebted to Professor Laura Sanguineti White, advisor, mentor, and primary source of guidance throughout my years of graduate school. The many afternoons spent talking about literature, words, and life were a blessing and a rare privilege and her teachings have nurtured me as an academic and a human being. Her precious insights, comments and feedback made my journey pleasant and I will miss our discussions on Branca, Getto and Raimondi. To the members of my committee: to Professor Andrea Baldi, who wholeheartedly supported my research with lucid suggestions and references and whose precision and meticulousness will remain exemplary in my eyes; to Professor Alessandro Vettori, whose enthusiasm for this dissertation was contagious and a vital source for my writing, I am truly grateful. I would also like to thank Professor Pietro Frassica for his warmth, constant help and guidance throughout my career as graduate iv student. I extend many thanks to the rest of the faculty: to Professor David Marsh, whose witticisms, anecdotes and knowledge will always encourage me to read one more book; to Professor Paola Gambarota, who always had a reading tip for me and a kind word of support during the most crucial phases of the writing process; to Professor Rhiannon Welch, whose positive energy and encouragement lit up my days; to the Language Coordinator, Carmela Scala, for sharing with me her knowledge and love for Giambattista Basile’s Pentamerone. A very special mention to Carol Feinberg and Sheri La Macchia for their constant help throughout the meanderings of bureaucracy and for making me feel always welcome and loved. Additionally, I would like to thank all my friends and colleagues at Rutgers for their patience and contagious passion and for putting up with me. In particular, I would like to thank Arianna, Aria and Daniele for being part of this project from the very first day of my writing. I would like to express my gratitude to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the Transliterature Program at Rutgers University, and to the Rutgers Graduate School of New Brunswick for the traveling award, Transliterature Fellowship and Pre-Dissertation and Special Study support scholarship, respectively, which allowed me to conduct research in Tunisia and Egypt, where I improved my Arabic skills and I worked on my dissertation in institutions like Alexandria’s public library and Tunisia’s national library surrounded by intellectuals and friends like Professor Abdelkader Ben Hassoun. During my years at Rutgers, I have had the privilege of being surrounded by too many other inspiring scholars, brilliant colleagues and promising students to name v individually here, but who have made me feel at home miles away from home and to whom I will be eternally grateful. vi INDICE Abstract ii Acknowledgements iv Introduzione 1 1. Labirinti Narrativi e Labor-Intus Interpretativi: il testo, la tessitura e il lettore moderno Teseo 1.1 Labirinti narrativi e labor-intus interpretativi 14 1.2 Deficienze fisiche ed efficienza verbale: melius abundare quam deficere 28 1.3 Il textum, la tessitura e il lettore moderno Teseo 32 1.4 Una cornice dal volto barocco: capovolgimenti artistici, ribaltamenti letterari e stravolgimenti linguistici 38 1.5 L’eliocentrismo novellistico: moti di rotazione narrativa e di rivoluzione letteraria 40 1.6 Lo smascheramento dell’inganno e la verità: coincidentia oppositorum tra realtà e fantasia 43 2. Dalle Novelle sul Magico alla Magia della Letteratura: Jinn, Ifrît, fantasime, incantesimi, orchi e streghe 2.1 Il Pentamerone e la “cuntaminazione” di reale e fiabesco: i fatti, le fate e il fato 47 2.2 Il cambiamento di status: tra fatalismo e “fatagioni” 59 vii 2.3 Mirabile visu, mirabile dictu, mirabile factu: personaggi sovrannaturali, oggetti fatati e “mirabile fato” 64 2.4 Teatralità del “reale”, Triplicità del fiabesco 69 2.5 Streghe, fattucchiere e negromanti: formule magiche, polveri e incantesimi 78 3. Metamorfosi Barocche: Amore e Sessualità dall’Harem a Vallepelosa 3.1 Preliminari letterari, preliminari erotici: verso una nomenclatura della metafora sessuale 90 3.2 La metafora sessuale: dall’Harem a Vallepelosa 98 3.2.1 Onomastica e topo(r)nomastica 108 3.2.2 Basile e il giardino delle delizie: cavalcando tra scene “voscherecce,” valli pelose e orti da seminare 111 3.2.3 L’epos, l’eros e la guerra dei sessi 114 3.2.4 Dal lusso della tavola alla lussuria del talamo 115 3.3 Dalle lezioni sull’amore all’eziologia della malattia d’amore 117 3.4 Cunti d’amore, cotti d’amore: dai piaceri della carne alla carnalità sessuale 134 4. L’Esotismo Esponenziale: Oriente e Occidente si fanno Orientaleggianti 4.1 Oriente, Occidente, accidenti fiabeschi e incidenti mercantili: dalle terre d’Oriente agli orientalismi letterari 144 4.2 Orridi cominciamenti, oltraggi e orientalismi ombrosi: tra mori, finti amori e pestifere “morie” 151 4.3 Giardini, palazzi, dedali cittadini e labirinti naturali: Teseo e le trame d’Oriente 163 viii 4.4 Cibi d’Oriente, spezie e specialità esotiche dalla tavola al letto: quando l’esotico si fa erotico 167 Conclusioni 173 Riferimenti Bibliografici 177 ix 1 Introduzione Il 2015 rappresenta un vero e proprio annus mirabilis per la novellistica italiana dal momento che, grazie agli adattamenti cinematografici di registi come Paolo e Vittorio Taviani e Matteo Garrone, capolavori letterari come il Decameron di Giovanni Boccaccio e Lo cunto de li cunti: overo lo trattenemiento de’ peccerille di Giambattista Basile vengono riscoperti e diffusi al di là dei confini nazionali. Particolarmente interessante a tale riguardo risulta anche il lavoro del regista portoghese Miguel Gomes che, nel suo trittico cinematografico intitolato