Passion and Prison in Senilidade by Italo Svevo and, Um amor by Dino Buzzati

Abstract

This paper highlights the dialogue between two narratives of Italian literature on the theme of love and affective relationships experienced by their protagonists. Although the novels were written at different times, 65 years apart, both can be read and interpreted based on passions. Thus, as the main corpus of this analysis, the novels Senilità, by Italo Svevo, published in 1898, and Um amor, by Dino Buzzati, published in 1963, were selected. From these two narratives, we propose a reading of the love relationships experienced by the protagonists, which, in turn, act as a conductor of these stories, being important in the construction of the identity of the male figures. This reading will be based on the mimetic theory of the French philosopher and anthropologist René Girard.