Beyond the Bounds: Twentieth-century Variations on the Myth of Alcestis

  • Novella Primo University of Catania
Keywords: Alcestis, Myth, Boundary, Sacrifice, Rilke, Yourcenar, Savinio, Lacan

Abstract

The study is focused on the comparison of some modern imitations (written by Rilke, Yourcenar, Savinio…) of the classical myth of Alcestis, the woman who sacrifices her life in order to save her husband, as it is told in Euripides’s prototype (438 B.C.).

The semantic of limen, considered both as threshold and border, becomes, in this paper, an interpretative key to go through the deep meaning of the texts that have been analysed.

The intertextual comparative perspective adopted has therefore the aim of considering the myth in a dynamic way, thanks also to the contribution of psychoanalysis, especially of Lacan’s seminars where many important theories about the theme of sacrifice in literature and about the condition of being «entre deux», that is between life and death, are explained thanks to some quotations taken from Alcestis’s myth.

The study also illustrates how, in the twentieth-century performances and poems, there is a contamination with other classical stories, like Pygmalion’s one.

Moreover all the modern rewritings suggest different solutions to the catabasis and especially to the rescue from death of Alcestis who comes back to life veiled and often voiceless. In all the myth’s variations the happy ending is indeed only partial because it is impossible to return truly among the living for whom has directly experienced death which is an implacable necessity.

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Author Biography

Novella Primo, University of Catania

After a doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in “Italianistica”, Novella Primo is now attending a doctorate in “Francesistica” at the University of Catania, collaborating with the chair of Theory of Literature. She has compared Ariosto, Leopardi, Lalla Romano to classic ancient literature, especially to ovidian miths. She is now continuing some researches about translation studies and literary reception. Among her publications: Savoca-Primo, Concordanza delle traduzioni poetiche di Giacomo Leopardi, Olschki: 2003; Leopardi lettore e traduttore, Insula: 2008; Fiore Torrisi, (N. Primo ed.), Il poeta nascosto. Versi 1936-2004, Novecento: 2009 and other contributions both in literary magazines and papers for Study Congresses like Alcesti: riscritture italiane del mito («Quaderni del ‘900», VIII: 2008) and “Flaubert c’est moi”: il “cuore semplice” della narrativa di Lalla Romano (ETS: 2010).

References

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Sitografia

Blasone, Pino, Alcesti, la donna che visse due volte, 2007, web.

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Vianello, Roberto, “Alcesti nel Novecento lettera-rio italiano”, web.

Published
2012-08-22
How to Cite
Primo, N. (2012). Beyond the Bounds: Twentieth-century Variations on the Myth of Alcestis. Between, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.13125/2039-6597/621
Section
Myths and Themes of Crossing Over