| Summary: | <p>This thesis investigates mythopoesis in the works of the Milanese writer Carlo Emilio Gadda (1893-1973). It aims to contextualize the category of myth within the epistemological construction that underlies Gadda’s oeuvre.</p>
<p>The project consists of two sections. The first section (chs. 1-2) brings to light two original hermeneutic horizons of Gadda’s inquiry into myth: here, the philosophical essay Meditazione milanese (1928; 1974) marks the author’s conceptual transition, from the modules of psychologism and physiological Kantianism, to his exposure to 20th century epistemological debate. With regards to this period of transition, we hypothesized that an important and previously unappreciated role was played by the philosopher Antonio Banfi and the intellectuals of the Milanese circle that surrounded him (L. Anceschi; R. De Grada; E. Paci; E. Vittorini; G. Ferrata; A. Vigevani). This hypothesis was supported through the study of documents preserved in numerous archival collections.</p>
<p>Following from the first section’s discussion of Gadda’s philosophical turn, the second section of the project (chs. 3-4) analyzes the terms, modalities, and functionalities by which myth penetrates the author’s speculative sphere in two particular works: L’Adalgisa. Disegni milanesi (1944) and Eros e Priapo (1944-45; 1967). This section offers an in-depth critical analysis compared to traditional readings and sources on the two texts. It addresses the question of myth from different disciplinary coordinates: respectively, the socio-psycho-ethno-anthropological in L’Adalgisa, and the political-ideological in Eros e Priapo.</p>
<p>In an inextricable interplay between poetics and gnoseology, the theoretical framework that arises from this study demonstrates how myth is a means by which the author attempts to finalize his tormented exploration of the world. With it, he invents and perfects his psychology and elaborates a personal sociology and anthropology, reinvigorating, at the same time, the lines of a peculiar metaphysics.</p>
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