The face of the mask. The “Bela Lugosi” biofiction by Edgardo Franzosini

Abstract

The book Bela Lugosi by Edgardo Franzosini presents itself as a particularly fruitful text for analyzing the dialectic between reality and fiction, since the writer chooses to tell the story of an actor, Bela Lugosi, who confuses his life with that of the character he plays, Count Dracula. This mirroring game lends itself to investigating the intertwining, as interesting as it is problematic, between true and false. The purpose of this article will be twofold: on the one hand to verify how the book falls into the category of biofiction; on the other, to analyze the multiple forms and declinations that the imaginary element takes on to demonstrate how, for the author, this is an indispensable ingredient for grasping the truth and meaning of a life.