Shielding oneself: Michele Mari’s oblique autobiographical writing in «Filologia dell’anfibio» and «Rondini sul filo»

Abstract

In Michele Mari’s work, self-narration takes shape through an oblique and implicit form of autobiographism, in which the authorial presence tends to remain elusive through various strategies of dissimulation. The essay examines how such procedures operate even in texts of stronger autobiographical intensity, such as Filologia dell’anfibio and Rondini sul filo. The study begins with a stylistic and rhetorical analysis with the aim of interpreting the hyper-literariness of Filologia dell’anfibio as a screen that filters the memorial substance. The discussion then moves on to Rondini sul filo, highlighting Mari’s ventriloquial appropriation of Céline’s style and the marked presence of the supernatural. Both features are interpreted as strategies of concealment, deliberately employed to obscure and displace the authorial self.