The sick body: the case of Michele from “Gli indifferenti”

Abstract

This paper focuses on the literary, narrative and cultural function performed by Michele Ardengo’s model of corporeity in Gli indifferenti, intended as a tool for probing the inner life of the character and of an entire social class. I will underline how the internal and external representation of the character are closely connected according to a still early twentieth century vision, whereby the evils of the soul are reflected on those of a physical type. I will also investigate the role that Michele’s pre-existentialist body image plays within the novel and the relationship first with Leo Merumeci and his sister Carla and then with the male characters of the adolescent trilogy, formed by Inverno di malato, Agostino and La disubbidienza.