L'eroe fuori luogo
Language: Italian
Publisher: Paolo Loffredo Editore Srl
Description
L'Eroe fuori luogo
The narrative nucleus of “Gerusalemme liberata” is the siege of the city.
The essential, expositive and spatial structure of the poem therefore takes shape in a constant attempt made by the heroes of going beyond certain limits and entering in the fortified city. The epic narration of the war opposes love, which a natural space, far from the centre of the narration and characterized by pastoral poetic elements.
Natural space is often misleading in this opposition, in which the epic space matches chivalrous values. But yet, the bucolic environment is a metaphor to show complex existential and conceptual routes. It is well shown in the episode of Erminia’s escape, in which the young woman is led by passions which are difficult to deal with. She breaks the balance, bringing out Tancredi and becoming the protagonist of one of the most discussed episodes in Italian literature.
The analysis of space structure shows the mechanism behind the heroes’ adventures, which are the “action engine of the poem” (going beyond limits, getting away from the centre of the battle, the absence of the hero).
Tasso’s work is the most representative epic poem from the XVI century and in the following eras had a great fortune even in figurative arts. The volume is therefore closed with a collection of paintings about this theme, to which is dedicated the second part of this monography.
