«As ‘twere he». Alcune considerazioni sul ritratto fotografico nella cultura letteraria inglese del tardo Ottocento

Giovanni Bassi

doi:10.13125/2039-6597/5211

Giovanni Bassi

DOI: https://doi.org/10.13125/2039-6597/5211

Parole chiave: Photography, Portrait, Hardy, Simulacra

Abstract

Questo articolo indaga la dimensione simulacrale delle rappresentazioni di ritratti fotografici nella letteratura inglese del tardo Ottocento. Le prime due sezioni si concentrano sulle opere di Hardy legate alla fotografia e mostrano come in questi testi i ritratti fotografici svolgono la funzione di un surrogato spettrale di una persona assente e/o di un corpo oggetto del desiderio. Questa feticizzazione delle immagini fotografiche, che Hardy condivide con altri poeti e scrittori a cavallo tra fine Ottocento e primo Novecento, anticipa successive teorizzazioni sulla fotografia e il simulacro, ma riflette anche discorsi estetico-culturali dell'epoca connessi alle innovazioni tecnologiche nell'ambito della fotografia. L'ultima parte dell'articolo sostiene che questo simulacro 'fotografico', spesso associato al desiderio amoroso, può essere considerato una modernizzazione di un consolidato tropo della cultura letteraria Occidentale, il ritratto interiore dell'amato/a.

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