Iginio (or Igino) Ugo Tarchetti (1839 – 1869) was a journalist and author, a leading figure within the Scapigliatura movement. The Scapigliatura consisted of a like-minded group of Italian authors, musicians, painters and sculptors who, in the wake of the Risorgimento, sought to revitalise their country’s predominantly conservative culture. The literal meaning of “Scapigliato” is “dishevelled”, whereas “Scapigliatura” is equivalent to the French term “bohème” (bohemian). It was derived from the title of the novel La Scapigliatura e il 6 Febbraio by Cletto Arrighi, the pen-name of Carlo Righetti (1830-1906), one of the forerunners of the movement. The Scapigliati often sought to shock the Catholic establishment (whose authority had already been questioned, on the political front, by the ongoing upheavals in the newly-formed Italian state). To achieve their aims, they sought models outside the Italian tradition. While the musicians within the group (such as Arrigo Boito and Franco Faccio) looked towards Wagner, authors such as Tarchetti were influenced by the German Romantics (such as Heine and E.T.A. Hoffmann), the French Bohemians (such as Gautier) and the poetry of Charles Baudelaire. Another source of inspiration was Edgar Allan Poe.

The literature of the fantastic has illustrious antecedents in Italian literature. Indeed, Dante’s Divine Comedy, with its tour of Heaven, Purgatory and Hell, can be read as a work of supernatural – and in some aspects Gothic – fiction, and Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, with its sorcerers and fantastic creatures in an imagined East, is a worthy forerunner of Oriental Gothic. Yet, the resurgence of the literature of the weird and the fantastic in Italy owes much to the Scapigliati and their interest in works of figures such as Hoffmann and Poe.

In this regard, Tarchetti’s Racconti Fantastici, first published by Treves in 1869, is an important, not to say seminal, collection. Lawrence Venuti’s translation was first published by Mercury House in 1992, and is now being issued on Archipelago Books. Reading this collection, one detects two distinct currents in Tarchetti’s style. Some stories harken back to an earlier form of Gothic. This is the case, for instance, with The Legends of the Black Castle with its well-worn tropes of ruined castles and old clerics with mysterious histories. A Spirit in a Raspberry and A Dead Man’s Bone are, essentially, ghost stories where, once again, the Anglo-Saxon tradition of supernatural fiction is evident. The Lake of the Three Lampreys, “A Popular Tradition”, reminded me of the folklore-infused stories of Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, but its “nature writing” and inevitably sinful monks are also close to Radcliffe. Nowhere is the influence of English Gothic more obvious than in The Elixir of Immortality. Tarchetti subtitles it “In Imitation of the English”. It is, in effect, a plagiarised version of Mary Shelley’s “The Mortal Immortal”.

The theme of “Fate” recurs in Tarchetti’s stories. Often, the protagonists battle against the vicissitudes of Fortune, with scant results. Fate can set some individuals on the course of tragedy (as in The Fated) but, in other cases, has a decidedly benevolent influence (Captain Gubart’s Fortune).

In other works, Tarchetti is particularly reminiscent of Poe. In Bouvard, the eponymous protagonist is haunted by his own ugliness, which keeps him from winning the love of his life. The conclusion of the story brims with morbid horror. Then there is what is possibly the most original story in the collection – The Letter U (A Madman’s Manuscript). When I started reading this tale about a man obsessed with the “evil” letter U, I smiled at this absurd, quasi-comic premise. By the end of it, I definitely felt uneasy.

Lawrence Venuti’s translation is excellent. The authenticity of the language he uses does not stem only from its faithfulness to the original but also from the fact that Venuti bases his style on that of the (English-speaking) Gothic authors of the nineteenth century. As a result, his prose, albeit flowing, has a slightly archaic feel to it which fits the subject perfectly.

Fantastic Tales is an enjoyable read, but it is also a window onto an as yet underappreciated era of Italian fiction.

Head to https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2020/06/fantastic-tales-by-iginio-ugo-tarchet... for an illustrated review with a playlist of Italian opera. ( )

Iginio (or Igino) Ugo Tarchetti (1839 – 1869) was a journalist and author, a leading figure within the Scapigliatura movement. The Scapigliatura consisted of a like-minded group of Italian authors, musicians, painters and sculptors who, in the wake of the Risorgimento, sought to revitalise their country’s predominantly conservative culture. The literal meaning of “Scapigliato” is “dishevelled”, whereas “Scapigliatura” is equivalent to the French term “bohème” (bohemian). It was derived from the title of the novel La Scapigliatura e il 6 Febbraio by Cletto Arrighi, the pen-name of Carlo Righetti (1830-1906), one of the forerunners of the movement. The Scapigliati often sought to shock the Catholic establishment (whose authority had already been questioned, on the political front, by the ongoing upheavals in the newly-formed Italian state). To achieve their aims, they sought models outside the Italian tradition. While the musicians within the group (such as Arrigo Boito and Franco Faccio) looked towards Wagner, authors such as Tarchetti were influenced by the German Romantics (such as Heine and E.T.A. Hoffmann), the French Bohemians (such as Gautier) and the poetry of Charles Baudelaire. Another source of inspiration was Edgar Allan Poe.

The literature of the fantastic has illustrious antecedents in Italian literature. Indeed, Dante’s Divine Comedy, with its tour of Heaven, Purgatory and Hell, can be read as a work of supernatural – and in some aspects Gothic – fiction, and Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, with its sorcerers and fantastic creatures in an imagined East, is a worthy forerunner of Oriental Gothic. Yet, the resurgence of the literature of the weird and the fantastic in Italy owes much to the Scapigliati and their interest in works of figures such as Hoffmann and Poe.

In this regard, Tarchetti’s Racconti Fantastici, first published by Treves in 1869, is an important, not to say seminal, collection. Lawrence Venuti’s translation was first published by Mercury House in 1992, and is now being issued on Archipelago Books. Reading this collection, one detects two distinct currents in Tarchetti’s style. Some stories harken back to an earlier form of Gothic. This is the case, for instance, with The Legends of the Black Castle with its well-worn tropes of ruined castles and old clerics with mysterious histories. A Spirit in a Raspberry and A Dead Man’s Bone are, essentially, ghost stories where, once again, the Anglo-Saxon tradition of supernatural fiction is evident. The Lake of the Three Lampreys, “A Popular Tradition”, reminded me of the folklore-infused stories of Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, but its “nature writing” and inevitably sinful monks are also close to Radcliffe. Nowhere is the influence of English Gothic more obvious than in The Elixir of Immortality. Tarchetti subtitles it “In Imitation of the English”. It is, in effect, a plagiarised version of Mary Shelley’s “The Mortal Immortal”.

The theme of “Fate” recurs in Tarchetti’s stories. Often, the protagonists battle against the vicissitudes of Fortune, with scant results. Fate can set some individuals on the course of tragedy (as in The Fated) but, in other cases, has a decidedly benevolent influence (Captain Gubart’s Fortune).

In other works, Tarchetti is particularly reminiscent of Poe. In Bouvard, the eponymous protagonist is haunted by his own ugliness, which keeps him from winning the love of his life. The conclusion of the story brims with morbid horror. Then there is what is possibly the most original story in the collection – The Letter U (A Madman’s Manuscript). When I started reading this tale about a man obsessed with the “evil” letter U, I smiled at this absurd, quasi-comic premise. By the end of it, I definitely felt uneasy.

Lawrence Venuti’s translation is excellent. The authenticity of the language he uses does not stem only from its faithfulness to the original but also from the fact that Venuti bases his style on that of the (English-speaking) Gothic authors of the nineteenth century. As a result, his prose, albeit flowing, has a slightly archaic feel to it which fits the subject perfectly.

Fantastic Tales is an enjoyable read, but it is also a window onto an as yet underappreciated era of Italian fiction.

Head to https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2020/06/fantastic-tales-by-iginio-ugo-tarchet... for an illustrated review with a playlist of Italian opera. ( )