Time and Narrative in Petrarch's Rerum vulgarium fragmenta. Robertson, A Preface to Chaucer Princeton: Princeton University Press, , 99 is essentially idolatrous in nature. The jewelled cross has also escha- tological significance. In his article on poem 30, Durling points out that the New Jerusalem is described in Apocalypse 21 as being "decorated with 12 kinds of pre- cious stones, including topaz. Also, see Robert M. The Myth of the Poet. University of Chicago Press, offers a brilliant and provocative reading of Renaissance representations of Christ, the centrality of the mystery of the Incarnation and cultural repression of Christ's sexuality.
For Christ to redeem humanity by his death he had to be thoroughly man in every aspect, thus the insistence with which artists represented his genitalia which he connects to the debates about his circumcision. The night before the violent destruction of his flesh Christ designates the ontological presence of his body in its manifestation as the Eucharist.
The Eucharistie body and the resur- — 40 — Moukninc; Laura rected body, each of them incorruptible, underwrite the ontological alliance of body and soul and the exclusion of the flesh, which is understood to fill out the body imprecisely. Petrarch, unable to disengage from his earthly love and appro- priates the terminology of Christianity for his own cult of Laura and for his audi- ence's reverence of the Fragmenta. On the sociopolitical significance of the body and on the centrality of the body in the Middle Ages, seen as a period in which incarnational aesthetics governed thus not a purely metaphysical period see Jacques Le Goff, 77?
University of Chicago Press, Storia della morte in Occidente dal Medioevo ai giorni nostri. Over Her Dead Body. The Body and Society: The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, Nella selva del Petrarca. Editore Licinio Cappella, The Figure of the Poet in Renaissance Epic. Vincent on his retirement from the chair of Italian at Cambridge. Foster — 41 — Isabella Bertoletti and U. The Light in Troy: London and New York: Italian Studies 34 The Languages of Literature in Renaissance Italy. Oxford and New York: The Body of Beatrice. Il Canzoniere petrarchesco e Sant'Agostino.
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Marin, Louis "The Figurability of the Visual: Petrarca e il Ventoso. Painting in Florence and Siena after the Black Death. L'esperienza poetica del Petrarca. A Preface to Chaucer. Roche , Thomas P. Petrarch and the English Sonnet Sequence. Storia e racconto nel "Canzoniere" del Petrarca. Text and Subtext in the "Rime sparse. University of Missouri Press, Petrarch's 'Chiare fresche et dolci acque. Come molti intellettuali del suo tempo anche Ada Negri accolse con entusiasmo l'avvento del Fascismo, che reputava l'erede naturale dei po- stulati del primo Socialismo in grado di risarcire il popolo dalle illusioni del sistema liberale.
Guglielmotti spiega l'adesione della Negri al Fascismo come una scelta inevitabile: La lettura dell'epistolario Negri-Mussolini consente di precisare meglio la natura del rapporto della scrittrice lodigiana con il regime fascista non tanto quale scelta programmatica di tipo politico-ideologico, quanto piut- tosto quale scelta "sentimentale" dovuta all'amicizia che la legava al Mussolini socialista 2. Un'amicizia sicuramente ricambiata dal Duce anche in considerazione del fatto che tutta la macchina propagandistica fascista che operava per il consenso necessitava di figure pubbliche di richiamo, come Ada Negri, la quale, con il suo passato socialista, rappresentava quasi una conferma dei proponimenti della dirigenza fascista 3.
Per comprensi- bili ragioni di politica editoriale questa amicizia fu opportunamente cen- surata nell'immediato dopoguerra dai curatori dell' Opera omnia negriana Milano, Nel volume Poesie, alla poesia "Per la morte di un gio- vane" fu, infatti, depennato il sottotitolo che recitava "In memoria di Sandro Mussolini"; mentre il racconto "Libro di Sandro" di Erba sul sagra- to fu completamente eliminato. Io null'altro posso fare che pregar Dio, per l'Italia e per Voi.
Vostra devotamente Ada Negri 6 Oppure la lettera del ' Nulla domando alla vita, per me: Dio Vi accompagni, Duce: Lo stesso epistolario svela, tuttavia, l'ipoteca utilitaristica che com- prensibilmente gravava sul rapporto: Negri 16 , ai con- tributi in denaro Da parte sua, la scrittrice era consapevole del peso che l'amicizia di Mussolini poteva avere sulla sua fortuna editoriale come testi- moniano alcune lettere, nelle quali l'editore Mondadori chiedeva l'autoriz- zazione ad utilizzare le parole del Duce per pubblicizzare i volumi della Negri Una lettera, in particolare, esemplifica l'aspetto strumentale del rapporto: E quell'ignobile stroncatura promette di continuare in altro numero.
Io domando al Duce d'Italia: E giusto che un poeta il quale ha ricevuto riconoscimenti nazionali e del Governo sia in un giornale militante trat- La scrittrice faceva riferimento all'articolo di Biondolillo, nel quale il critico attaccava ferocemente tutta la poesia della Negri, la cui seconda parte, annunciata, non fxi mai pubblicata La scrittrice parve, dunque, rifugiarsi nella letteratura come un campo di esperienza alternativo a quello della cultura di regime: Una scrii irk i faS [STA? Con l'oro l'ottenne delle fedi che alle mani delle tue donne amor commise, se in pio rito innanzi all'altare.
Le tue donne Italia: Dall'anular non lo toglier mai Ad eccezione di queste rare composizioni d'occasione, a partire da Di giorno in giorno 1 la prosa negriana, dunque, si arricchisce di ricordi personali, di impressioni, di descrizioni cui si intrecciano momenti di ri- flessione nella forma conchiusa del bozzetto o del frammento. A titolo di esem- pio basti analizzare la posizione ambigua di Ada Negri nei confronti della questione femminile: Merry nota correttamente che la Negri "condemns some of the external and visible signs of progress and improvements in the condition of women.
The thin typists trotting off to their offices in tight dresses and stocking earn the writer's sarcasm in several incidental episodes. Le mamme, poverette, a casa, coi piccoli. Non si poteva impedire ai sindacati operai d'imporre le nuove paghe, di difendere le otto ore, d'ostaco- lare i licenziamenti. Era femmina, che importa se cieca? Era femmina e par- toriva. S'era alzata alle cinque, prima dell'alba: S'erano, come al solito, impacciate e smarrite un poco, le sue mani lente di sessan- tenne, nell'infilare i vestiti al diavoletto che le sgusciava fra le dita, serpentino, una vera anguilla, nell'allacciargli i bottoni - e ne man- cava sempre qualcuno.
Ma il piccino era adorabile, di carni sode e candide, di cuore allegro e pieno d'amore per la sua nonna. La riduzione delle congiun- zioni produce frasi strutturalmente disgiunte, nelle quali i predicati verbali sono sostituiti da elementi nominali. Nel quadro di una evoluzione della narrativa negriana con specifico riferimento alla narrativa, queste raccolte rappresentano uno spartiacque tra la produzione giovanile e quella matura. La fram- mentazione della frase si intensifica con una punteggiatura atipica i due punti sostituiscono spessissimo la semplice virgola che smembra l'artico- larsi del periodo, ponendo tutti i sintagmi sullo stesso piano e azzerando ogni gerarchia narrativa.
Qui il costrutto si infittisce, i segni di pun- teggiatura assecondano e rivelano le intenzioni musicali del periodo e la tensione mimetica del ritmo, prima assenti, come nel seguente brano: Cam- minano, parallele, da un vuoto verso un altro vuoto: Ora s'im- pigliano nella Via Lattea: Dovranno pur sorpassare il carro dell'Orsa Maggiore: A poco a poco, con gradazione inavvertita, l'orchestra aerea si atte- nua, si spegne: Dovunque si fab- brica: Ha paura della polvere, e di quel dannato picchiare e scarruco- lare.
Una rete di novissime vie, che solo ieri non c'erano: Una scrii irk i fascista? Guglielmotti, invidi italiani Roma: Comes, Ada Negri da un tempo all'altro Milano: Ada Negri, lettera a Mussolini, 19 giugno , Comes Ada Negri, lettera a Mussolini, 4 giugno , Comes Q Ada Negri, lettera a Mussolini, 27 gennaio , Comes La pro- lusione fu tenuta da G. Marinetti tenne la prolusione. In una lettera al Patrizia la Negri scrisse: Al mio fianco erano il governatore di Roma on. Nel le venne conferita dal Ministro dell'Educazione Nazionale la Medaglia d'Oro "per alta benemerenza culturale". Con grande delicatezza aggiunge che io devo considerare tale corresponsione unicamente come un giusto riconoscimento del Paese verso la mia opera di poesia.
Relatore fu Ettore Romagnoli. E nelle parole, le immagini del mondo sensibile appaiono riflesse in equivalenti foni- ci di suggestione magica allucinatoria: Reale Accademia d'Italia, Si legga la lettera del 19 dicembre Io non mi sono mai illusa, ritenendomi da tanto. Ma in questo momento sento il bisogno di dire a Vostra Eccellenza che alla mia coscienza e alla mia vita basta come conforto il pensiero che la Vostra altissima mente e il Vostro grande cuore mi hanno trovata non indegna dell'onore di quel Premio.
A proposito della nomina della Negri all'Accademia E. Montale, "Il Fascismo e la letteratura: Nella Giacomelli, maestra elementare lodigiana, era accusata di connivenza con l'anarchico Gino Lucetti, l'attentatore di Mussolini, e condannata al confino. Una scriitrice fascisi a? Ada Negri, lettera a Mussolini, 31 dicembre , Comes Nella lettera del 12 marzo la Negri ringrazia il Duce per "il dono inaspettato e prezioso" come "riconoscimento della mia opera di tant'anni", Ada Negri, lettera a Mussolini, 12 marzo , Comes L'editore Mondadori chiese al Segretario particolare del Duce l'autoriz- zazione ufficiale per utilizzare una frase tratta dall'articolo del Duce su Stella Mattutina sulla fascetta, che avrebbe adornato la ristampa del volume.
Mondadori, lettera a Chiavolini, 28 febbraio , Comes Anche un'altra nota scrittrice dell'epoca Milly Dandolo, condividendo la posizione della Negri, scrisse un articolo sulla rivista Lei, in cui celebrava l'offerta della fede nuziale come contromisura alle aggressioni straniere. University of California Press ; P. Guida, Letteratura femminile del ventennio fascista Lecce: Ma rinviene evidentemente anche dall'ambiente familiare in cui ha vissuto. Greenwood Press, Bibliografia dei testi citati Annuario della Reale Accademia d'Italia, voi.
University of California Press The story engages in a compelling inter-textual dialogue with Giovanni Verga's canonical novella "La lupa" published thirty-two years earlier. While Verga's novella has been celebrated for its sensitivity to psychological and socio-economic issues, Deleddas short story, as we shall see, is complex and sophisticated in its treatment of similar issues. Yet, rather than an imitation of Verga's "veristic" style and thematics of which Deledda is often accused , "La volpe" constitutes an important "feminist" revision of Verga's problematic femme fatale.
This underestimation can be partially attributed to the tendency to read Deleddas use of folkloric themes, characters, and language as trite, outdat- ed, and even at odds with feminist theory. It is this misinterpretation that has most likely led to what a recent anthology of Italian women writers describes as the lack of appeal that Deleddas female protagonists hold for many feminist critics since feminist criticism tends to favor female characters that "celebrate autono- my" Migiel Yet, in fact, many of Deleddas female protagonists are autonomous in what they plan to achieve, but these plans for autonomy are ultimately thwarted by the oppressive societies in which they live.
This autonomy is Quaderni d'italianistica. As a result one might say that Deledda's folkloric style acts as a highly political strategy in the realm of the representation of gender re-alignment. My study will show that "La volpe", a deceptively simple tale of rural Sardinian life, is not a trite oversimplification of the female protagonist as victim of a morally fatalistic universe as the folkloric aspects of the text might suggest.
Rather, it is a highly complex and even modern portrayal of the female protagonist's aggression and hostility which stem directly from her sexual repression, which is, in turn, the necessary means of economic auton- omy. Therefore, it can be said that Deledda not only meets Verga's canonical benchmark by virtue of the psychological and socio-economic complexity of her examination of female oppression, but more importantly begs her own terms of interpretation beyond the confines of Verga's "verismo" to which Deledda herself denied allegiance.
Rather, Deledda deserves to be read as a proto-feminist writer whose proto-feminism rests in her clever use of locally colourful and timeless folkloric systems. Yet, Deledda's genius lies in the almost perverse way she constructs this charming folkloric world only to undermine it with these same elements. That is, Deledda seems to use the folkloric elements of the story only to steer the reader away from a simplistic and archaic folkloric reading.
The metaphor func- tions on the narrative level as the excuse that the female protagonist, Zana, creates in order to convince the doctor to give her the poison to kill her lover's wife. Refering to local sayings, she tells the doctor that the poison is for "la volpe [che] ci ruba gli agnellini appena nati" ["the fox [that] steals the new-born lambs"] Zana indirectly compares the woman, who is much older than either Jacu or Zana, to a "vecchia volpe," or "old fox," who has "stolen" the younger Jacu from Zana It is not until the final scene of the story that the doctor finally solves this riddle and confronts Zana with her own pun: This metaphor of the "volpe" also serves to invoke the provincial world of the characters as it constitutes a charming and locally colourful proverb that is typical of those that circulate throughout agro-pastoral communities.
Characteristic of folkloric forms of expression, the proverb reflects the local rural culture of the text through its use of animal and pas- toral lore. The metaphor of "la volpe" or " the fox" also establishes the theme of jealousy — a traditional theme of folkloristic narrative — in that the verb "ruba" suggests that Zana is jealous because the old woman "steals" her lover.
With great indignation, even Zana herself dismisses Jacu's similar "reading" of her plan to murder his wife as stemming from a motive as banal as jeal- ousy: Of that old crow, of that old fox? In fact, Zana's story of "la volpe" is anything but simplistic. Rather than a trivial rural saying, the proverb is a crafty and complex pun that Zana resourcefully constructs to conceal her plan to murder Jaicu's wife. Zana — not the old wife — is the true "fox" in Machiavellian terms, and her daring plan implies that besides cunning she has also the quality that Machiavelli attributes to the lion: The story's eco- nomic subtext — that of Zana's potential inheritance of her grandfather's fortune — affirms that Zana's plan to kill "la volpe" is not motivated by sim- ple jealousy, but rather by her desire for financial independence.
That is, at the same time that the text gestures at the verb "ruba" ["steals"] and its potential signification of romantic "disinheritance", it seems to do so only to dismiss that reading as the text ultimately reveals the verb's more perti- nent connotation of economic disinheritance. Therefore, the pun under- mines the fatalism attributed to the female sex in the myth of the "sette vacche figliate" also a folkloric saying. Deledda encourages this more subtle economic interpretation in the telling scene in which Zia Lenarda tells the doctor — who is romantically interested in Zana — that Zana refuses to entertain any of her interested suitors' advances because none of her suitors are as rich as she is, or rather as she will be when she inherits her grandfather's fortune: Non l'avevo mai veduta.
La rosa odora anche dentro la casa. Zana solo sa il posto. There is many a graduate that wants to marry Zana. I had never seen her. The perfume of the rose is just as sweet in the home. And the foreigners come from all over, even Nuoro, to see her. It's that the old man is so rich he doesn't know how much he has.
As much land as the King of Spain, and they say more than twenty thousand scudi hidden in his tanca. Only Zana knows the place. That's why she doesn't want even Juacchinu who is noble, but not so rich. While Zana's proverb mainly reveals her economic desire, the old woman's proverb points to Zana's sexu- al desire. On the primary level of signification the old woman's proverb communicates to the doctor that despite Zana's self-imposed exile in her grandfather's house, the beautiful or "rose"-like Zana still attracts suitors.
Yet, her proverb might also be read as a metaphor of sexual desire that has been relegated to a restrictive domestic space. Therefore, "la rosa odora anche in casa" is not just a banal country saying about a young girl's beau- ty, but a potent symbol of sexual repression— or what Deledda intuits as sexual repression even without the knowledge of an explicitly "technical" psychoanalytic vocabulary.
Other figures of speech that suggest this same double signification folkloric-psychoanalytic punctuate the story. Both figures of speech point to a notion of psychic depth — 63 — Rebecca Hopkins and the idea that some of the protagonist's motives are to be found buried in her subconscious. These tropes of sexual desire are directly connected with the question of Zana's inheritance as they suggest the extreme measures that Zana as a woman in turn-of-the-century Sardinia is forced to take as a result of her economically precarious situation. Sexual and economic repression become one in Deleddas story as the text reveals the dilemma in which Zana finds herself regarding the conflict between legal inheritance and rural social cus- toms.
That is, while the law regarding women's inheritance in Italy at the turn-of-the-century granted women the right to familial inheritance, social custom often dictated the opposite Casanova ; Calvi Although technically a woman in Zana's position would be eligible to inherit family property and money as provided by the Pisanelli law of January , the reality was that women would often renounce their inheritance rights in a kind of gesture at preserving patriarchal tradition. Even if a woman did retain her inheritance rights, both law and social custom dictated that her husband would become administrator of her property De Giorgio To further complicate the issue, local custom regarding inheritance in agrarian societies often differed quite dramatically from that in urban areas.
Since land was often the terms of inheritance, agrarian families often resorted to granting "la dote", or dowry, to eligible daughters rather than risk dispersing family land into the hands of the husbands of the female members Casanova ; Calvi 11; Therefore, in either case inheritance for women at this time was a "no-win" situation. The text highlights the complexity of the historical situation by sug- gesting that Zana will inherit her grandfather's money and land at the same time that it leaves various ends untied regarding that inheritance. Rather than explicitly say that Zana will "inherit" the grandfather's money, the ser- vant says that "Zana solo sa il posto" ["Only Zana knows its place"].
As a result, the story suggests that there are other factors that may prevent Zana from obtaining her grandfather's money and land so easily. While the lack of reference to other family members suggests that Zana is indeed her grandfather's only eligible heir, we know that social custom in rural soci- eties tended to disinherit women from the patriarchal fortune — which often consisted of land — so as to retain the land in the family. In which case, it is possible that Zana would still receive a dowry. In order to receive that dowry, however, she would need to become engaged before her grand- father dies so that her dowry is not threatened by the potential claim of a next of kin to the entire sum of the grandfather's fortune Calvi The text encourages this latter reading as the story begins with the discov- — 64 — Re-examining Female Desire ery of her grandfather's waning health, thereby explaining Zana's urgency regarding the need to resolve the "problem" of Jacu's marriage to Zia Lenarda.
In fact, the text implies that Zana may not even plan to marry, but she must at least be engaged if she hopes to receive a dowry. Just as Zana's pun about the fox makes its point indirectly, so does local inher- itance custom. Both systems of communication assume authority through oral and indirect expression. The story contrasts this form of communica- tion which is attributed to the rural society of the text with the 1 written and 2 direct expression of the doctor's bourgeois culture, which is seen in the letter he writes for Zia Lenarda, as well as in the prescriptions, and the books with which he surrounds himself.
While many scholars argue that Deledda's stories are unhistorical, her attention in this story to the situation of women regarding inheritance sug- gests that we reconsider her work as actually responding directly to con- crete historical and economic issues concerning women. Rather, one might say that Deledda draws an ironic contrast between the archaic nature of the provincial society in which the female characters live and the complexity and contemporary nature of these women's desires.
That is, there seems to be a malignant continuity between the timeless wis- dom of proverbs of this archaic society and the stubbornly anti-woman rationale that still characterizes the treatment of women in the new Italy. But as we have seen Zana has a rather unorthodox and even perverse way of redirecting the meaning of timeless proverbs to suit her own par- ticular historical predicament. Indeed from her point of view — and the text's — more important than the question of how Zana will inherit her grandfather's money inheritance as opposed to dowry is whom she will marry, since her husband will inevitably have the right to administer her possessions Casanova ; De Giorgio Ironically, if Zana wish- es to retain a modicum of financial independence and dignity, it is essen- tial that she marry Jacu who is already rich by virtue of being married to the wealthy Zia Lenarda and therefore poses less of a threat to her own administration of her fortune.
We can infer from the text that as a direct consequence of her Machiavellian need to marry Jacu — who is away on military duty and a married man — Zana must temporarily repress her sexual instinct. Not — 65 — Rebecca Hopkins only does Zana refuse the advances of her suitors — particularly those of the doctor — but she never even leaves her grandfather's house as the servant tells the doctor, "non esce quasi mai.
As a result, her sexual existence and political development into a wife and mother according to the patriarchal order are thwarted and replaced, in a kind of compromise with patriarchy, by her domestic duty as caretaker in her grandfather's home. In fact, Zana first appears in the story through the point of view of the doctor, who is on his way to check on Zana's grandfather. When the doctor sees Zana, she avoids his gaze and returns to her work in the kitchen, reassuming her posi- tion as caretaker: Zana's denial of sexual satisfaction for the sake of economic security is a perfect case study of Freud's theory of sexual repression in which the "pleasure principle" is transformed into the "reality principle" Freud Civilization Freud defines this transformation as the unconscious repression of the "id," or "libidinal instinct," by the "ego" and "super ego," or "self-preservation instinct" Freud Inhibitions Herbert Marcuses Marxist reading of Freud in Eros and Civilization poignantly redefines this transformation as the change in instinctual values from "immediate satis- faction" to "delayed satisfaction," from "pleasure" to "the restraint of plea- sure," from "play" to "work," from "receptiveness" to "productiveness," and from "absence of repression" to "security" Zana's temporary deferral of sexual gratification works against the patriarchal system by working within it.
But at what costs? Zana resembles other Deleddian female protagonists, such as Marianna Sirca and Cosima, in that her means of empowerment ironically hinge upon her marginaliza- tion in her grandfather's house. Contemporary eriticism has, in fact, examined the way Freud applied his theory of hostility and sexual repression to women.
Freud claimed that female hostility was actually just a reflection of innate aggression which social customs naturally tended to repress in women Freeman Freud argued that often a woman's hostility is the result of her frustration as she is relegated to the background and made to be dependent on her husbands own sexual desires Freud Civilization Zanas self-induced sexual repression and resulting hostility interestingly subverts Freud's theory in that Zana imposes sexual repression upon her- self as a means of stepping out from her subordinate position.
In which case, in her attempt to possess some kind of agency in order to escape soci- etal oppression, she ends up oppressing herself more. Is this a better solution than merely acquiescing to the fate of her sex? Returning to the image of Zanas "bocca sdegnosa," or "scornful mouth," we see that it is an image that reappears throughout the story, including the first physical description of her: It ended in a subtle chin that stuck out a bit: Therefore, not only in terms of her cleverness, but also as seen in her physical attributes, she — and not Jacu's wife — is the real "fox".
Deledda's imagery delib- erately plays with the tradition of the femme fatale, where female sexuality is portrayed as aggressive and often associated with wild animals. Yet, the text suggests that Zanas animalistic aggression and "fox" -like duplicity are not reflective of an innate moral flaw, but rather of a neurosis that devel- — 67 — Rebecca Hopkins ops as the result of her social and economic frustration as a young, single female attempting to secure some kind of economic independence in rural turn-of-the-century Sardinia.
The depiction of Zana as this kind of wild animal or "volpe" recalls Verga's highly sexual and aggressive Pina, who is referred to as "La Lupa" or "The She-wolf" in the short story by the same name. Similar to Deledda's depiction of Zana, Verga constructs Pina's animalistic or wolf- like sexuality in folkloric terms: Characteristic of folkloric tales, Pina's symbolic name precedes her in the text, for from the beginning of the short story she is referred to as "la Lupa" by both the narrator and townspeople.
Verga uses the demonstrative technique of oral narrative to emphasize the way "La Lupa" is inextricably tied up with town legend. Ironically, twentieth century feminist criticism might be inclined to re- read La Lupds behaviour as a direct result of her difficult economic and sex- ual predicament as a single mother in a restrictive society in which it is not acceptable for women to have sexual relations outside of marriage.
The story, however, does not totally support such a reading tempting as it may be in the way that Deledda's story invites a more empathetic reading. Whereas Deledda's story contains that key scene between the doctor and his servant in which the issues of inheritance, marriage, and sexual repres- sion are all brought to the reader's attention and hence act as permission to re-evaluate the causes of Zana's behaviour , Verga's story does not pre- sent the details of Pina's single motherhood in any significant way.
Nor do there seem to be any economic hardships attached to her role as single mother. Pina has her husband's money and a house of her own. As for any implications of sexual repression that may be tied to her being a single mother in a restrictive society, the story is quite clear that she has never repressed her sexual desires — even before the onset of her desire for Nanni. While some of her problematic behaviour is presented as being a result of her economic and sexual frustrations, the story never distin- guishes between these frustrations that are specific to particular situations and moral flaws which precede such social conditions.
Her behaviour up to the point of her problems with Nanni can be read only as some kind of moral and predetermined character flaw, and not as sexually or economi- cally determined. Therefore, whereas Deledda sets up "La Volpe" so that we are to infer that Zana becomes hostile and "fox"-like as a result of spe- cific events the issue of inheritance and her marriage , Pina's "wolf-like aggressivity is not a result of specific circumstances. Rather, she enters the story as a sexually ravenous, and morally and spiritually corrupt woman, and it is suggested that she has always been so: Le donne si facevano la croce quando la vedevano passare, sola come una cagnaccia, con quell' andare randagio e sospettoso della lupa affamata; ella si spolpava i loro figliuoli e i loro mariti in un batter d'oc- chio, con le sue labbra rosse, e se li tirava dietro alla gonnella solamente a guardarli con quegli occhi da satanasso, fossero stati davanti all'altare di Santa Agrippina.
The women made the sign of the cross when they saw her pass, alone as a wild bitch, prowling about suspiciously like a famished wolf; with her red lips she sucked the blood of their sons and husbands in a flash, and pulled them behind her skirt with a single glance of those devilish eyes, even if they were before the altar of Saint Agrippina. Fortunately, the She-wolf never went to church, not at Easter, not at Christmas, not to hear Mass, not for confession — Father Angiolino of Saint Mary of Jesus, a true servant of God, had lost his soul on account of her.
The scene with Zana and the old women of the town at the "tosatura" is particularly revealing. Zana's curt speech, hostility, and malicious curses show her mounting anxiety: Damn you all, leave me alone"] In turn, the women's reactions to her strange behaviour confirm its inappropriateness: In the final scene with Jacu, she is equally hostile and even seems to intimidate Jacu — who is suddenly quiet — just as she intimidates the doc- tor: Di quella vecchia cor- nacchia, di quella vecchia volpe?
Of that old crow, that old fox? But this will all end Not only is Zana angry, but she is "exasperated" with a voice now resembling a "gemito," or "groan" The ellipses evoke her momentary descent into a kind of hysteria. Hysteria, according to Freud, is the most extreme symptom of sexual repression Freud Inhibitions While these scenes with the other women are telling, Zana's hostility is most evident in her interactions with the doctor.
Her hostility toward the doctor is quite a mystery in the story since the doctor seems to have done nothing to warrant it. For example, when the doctor visits her grandfather a second time to check his health, he asks Zana quite routinely, "'Ebbene, come andiamo? Yet, Zana responds to this neutral question with scorn: In another scene, perhaps the most cru- cial scene in the story, the doctor advises Zana to change her grandfather's diet and Zana responds aggressively, almost snarling like a wild animal, as the image of her "bocca Avreste tutti e due bisogno di una cura ricostituente You both need a better diet As for the question of murder which lies at the heart of the story, the text suggests that it is the culmination of Zana's hostility and aggression.
Her sense of "self-preservation" that is evident in her plan to murder Zia Lenarda is not so much a reaction to the perceived "danger" of her biolog- ical safety — as Freud would have it — as it is to the endangerment of her social, sexual, and mental safety.
There may also be an allegorical dimen- sion to the planned murder of the "legitimate" wife, who would then be replaced by the wild "fox". The murder seems to be a figure of a deadly threat to the economic order of patriarchy itself. It is fitting that the question of murder is revealed at the "tosatura," the agrarian ritualistic celebration of the fleecing of the sheep. Like the folk- loric figures of speech in the text, the "tosatura" is at once the site of rural Sardinian society's local customs and of the culmination of Zana's sexual repression.
It is at the "tosatura" that Zana raises the issue of her "peniten- za" or "penitence": I corvi mi tocchino E per il nostro bene I put — 71 — Rebecca Hopkins on a good face for our good By using a metaphor that reflects local ritual Catholic and agrarian in nature , Zana indirectly correlates her act of penitence, or "penitenza," as the sacrifice of sexual pleasure, or more specifically as her resistance to the doctor's "touch". Applying Dolfi's theory to "La volpe", we can better understand the origins of Zana's sexual repression and consequently her strange behaviour.
The rural community of the text — a primarily taboo-based society — prohibits a woman's sexual gratification outside the organized system of marriage. Even simple conversation with a man without the presence of a chaperon provokes the disapproval of the community. For example, when the doctor follows Zana behind the fountain at the "tosatura", the father of Jacu, dis- gusted by Zana's behaviour, incites the others to condemn her: Voleva star sola con l'uomo; se fosse mia figlia le metterei la nuca sotto i calcagni" ["Do you see the granddaughter of Tomas Acchittu?
She wanted to be alone with that man; if she were my daughter I would put her neck under my heels"] While this dimen- sion of Deledda's text is undeniable, sexual repression in the story has, as we have seen, a self-willed and historical dimension linked to the protago- nist's specific social and economic situation, and to her rather "perverse" Machiavellian resourcefulness. Deledda contrasts Zana's "sacrifice" of touch with the "tosatura" — the more apparent narrative of sacrifice in the story: Deledda's story asks us to con- sider how these two spheres are related.
Where do they meet with respect to the notion of "sacrifice"?
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The archaic world of "sacrifice" that the "tosatura" evokes — as a coop- erative act of labour for the collective good which is embedded in the bib- lical tradition of animal sacrifice, as suggested by the references to "il vec- chio rassomigliante al profeta Elia" ["the old man resembling the profet Elia"] — is not the same type of "sacrifice" that Deledda ascribes to Zana. While the "sacrifice" of the "tosatura" parallels the "sacrifice" that the female members of this archaic community perform for the good of the family, church, and community, Zana's "sacrifice" of sexual pleasure is a direct consequence of her plans to work against the social structure by manipulating the system of marriage.
Therefore, her "sacrifice" works toward her own interests in the end as it seeks to achieve economic inde- pendence from her future husband. Rather than that which is "exchanged" or commodified within the realm of patriarchal gain, or the "tosatura", Zana attempts to assume an active economic role. In the same way, we might reconsider the notion of taboo in Deledda's stories as not only indicative of sexual propriety, but of class "propriety" as well.
That is, the taboo against speaking to the doctor, or any strange man without a chaperone, is enforced in this society in order to forestall the transgression of sexual mores and maintain the patriarchal system, but it is quite possibly also enforced to avoid the trespassing of class divisions, for the doctor is the epitome of the bourgeois outsider.
Returning to the scene where Zana snaps "Tutto possiamo! Not only is her hostili- — 73 — Rebecca Hopkins ty toward the doctor symptomatic of her sexual repression, but it is indica- tive of an insidious disdain of the bourgeois outsider that the doctor rep- resents. Throughout the story, the doctor is known only as "il dottore ", a title that identifies him by his middle-class profession, which stands in stark contrast to the agro-pastoral class of Zana, her granddfather, Jacu, and the others. Moreover, the doctor's urban origins are immediately noted by Zana and Zia Lenarda and, consequently, he is marked as an outsider at the same time that he is aligned with the industrial colonizers: Egli prende venti lire al giorno!
He gets 20 lire a day! It is significant that Zana refers to the doctor's salary — the economic divide between her own class and his bourgeois one — since disparity in material wealth constitutes the very basis of class struggle. Yet, even "normal" Marxist correlations between material wealth and class do not hold up in this story.
Instead, Deledda deliberately inverts the two so that the agro-pastoral class is the wealthy class whereas the bour- geois class is the poor one. The doc- tor, on the other hand, having "vuotata la borsa" ["emptied his purse"] and sold his own land, moves to the rural town after realizing that one can not buy "l'amore, la fortuna, il piacere" ["love, fortune, pleasure"] The scene in which the doctor is reading leisurely in his study emphasizes Zana's contrasting lack of leisure and desperate dependence on money.
This undoing or reversal of the normal relationship between class and wealth is intrinsically tied up with Zana's decision to wait for Jacu, refuse all other suitors, and thereby repress her sexual instincts. After all, the main reason she wants to marry Jacu is because he is just as rich as she is, while the doctor is poorer.
Therefore, might we say that Zana is a political character? If so, is she consciously political? In terms of class politics, she does not appear to have a conscious political project. Instead, the text suggests that her own eco- — 74 — Re-examining Fi mai e Dimui nomic security is her primary reason for wanting to marry Jacu and mur- der his wife. The class politics that are evident in her decision, however, are alluded to by the text. Therefore, one might read her political actions not so much as overtly political, but as motivated by what Federic Jameson calls the "political unconscious": As a result, what would amount to a rational decision to uphold the class taboo is made by Zana not so much out of an active polit- ical interest as out of a very private desire to ensure that her own project of autonomy progresses smoothly.
If Zana were to marry the doctor, a bour- geois outsider, she would not only risk losing her money to him, but more importantly she would become a social pariah. Upholding the class taboo is a necessary means to marrying one of its enforcers: We can apply Marcuses theories of repression to the struggle between the bourgeois class and the agro-pastoral class as represented by the conflict between the doctor and Zana against the backdrop of the history of Italian colonialism in nineteenth-century Sardinia. The history of Sardinia at this time was a history of oppression by bourgeois outsiders who came from mainland Italy and other European countries.
During the period of indus- trialization in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Italy, these bour- geois outsiders monopolized much of the local land, razing Sardinian forests in order to support the construction of the new Italian railroad and burning large plots in order to produce carbon and ash to send home to Italian factories. Deledda alludes to the local people's dis- inheritance of their land in the first part of the story when Zia Lenarda critcizes the doctor's colleague's purchase of local land with local money: As a result of this economic colonization of Sardinia by bourgeois out- siders, and what was known as "zustissia" or "la concreta organizzazione repressiva della legge imposta dal di fuori" ["the concrete repressive orga- nization of the law imposed by outsiders"], many armed resistances were organized among the agro-pastoral class.
It was not before long, however, that these armed confrontations evolved into more passive and insidious forms of subversion through the "individuale 'regolamento di conti'," or "individual keeping of score. Moreover, it seems that Deledda herself engages in a kind of textual "subversion" in her depiction of Zana's "regolamento di conti". The folkloric figures of speech that Deledda employs to depict Zana's subversion work to mask the doctor's "reading" of Zana's plan at the same time they mask the public's reading of what is for the time a polemic treatment of the "woman question".
In Italy — before the Suffrage but a good deal after the climactic period of Sardinian resistance — it is perhaps less dangerous to stage such a vio- lent allegory of gender re-alignment through the platform of colonial resis- tance than through that of gender itself. Obviously unfamiliar in any intimate way with this means of com- munication, the doctor interprets the proverb literally and as a result fails to detect Zana's real motive for asking for the poison. In fact, the doctor's confrontation with Zana at the end of the story coincides with his eventu- al deciphering of her trope.
Like Zia Lenarda's and Zana's use of the Sardinian dialect "beffulanu" , Zana's local proverb locates the conflict between the doctor and Zana as that between "insider" and "outsider". Just as dialect is often used as a form of resistance by colonized peoples because of its ability to resist in a somewhat non-confrontational way, the proverb of the "volpe" is used by Deledda for its performance of a more passive and insidious form of resistance. Both Maria Giacobbe-Harder and Susan Briziarelli speak of the historical phenomenon of "banditismo" — the agro-pastoral class's practice of looting the transported goods of the bourgeois "outsiders" and industri- al colonizers.
By this definition we see the way that the text parallels "banditismo" and Zana's project of gender alignment which works within the system of mar- riage in order to work against it. Briziarelli suggests that by aligning the female characters with these "criminal" figures Deledda makes a problematic statement about the female characters' moral culpability and hence Deledda's own "anxiety" toward issues of gender.
Yet, in this case a moral reading is exactly what we do not want to do as readers, or else we comply with the very patriarchal order that the story seeks to expose. The text's suggestion of Zana's lack of choices within her restrictive society steers us away from completely con- demning her at the same time that it discourages us from completely excus- ing her. That is, at times the text seems to justify Zana's behaviour as her — 77 — Rebecca Hopkins own form of "justice," given that the figures of the "banditi" function in the text more as local heroes rather than criminals.
Like these unlikely "heroes" of Sardinian colonialism, Zana is very much the "hero- ine" of the story despite her problematic behaviour. These favourable aspects of the narrative, however, never culminate in Zana's total exemp- tion since the majority of the story focuses on the disturbing manifesta- tions of Zana's behaviour. Moreover, the text maintains an emotional dis- tance from Zana by using a strict third person narrative without point of view.
As a result, we are never allowed to totally sympathize with Zana. The most ambiguous and crucial scene in the story, the ending, neither rescues Zana nor condemns her. Una volpe, una volpe! A fox, a fox! While the text validates the autonomy of her project it does not necessarily excuse her from murder. Yet, this refusal to make any moral judgement is not evidence of Deledda's "anxiety" regarding gender roles. She argues that Deledda's female characters tend to identify more with men than women, and points out that the men that these female protagonists choose to identify with are criminals, there- by dismissing the value of the female characters' own gender transgressions in the marriage system.
Moreover, Briziarelli argues that the lack of female soli- darity in Deleddas works, which she claims is given less importance by Deledda than is given to the class and political work that the characters perform, is a sign of the characters' ambivalence rather than autonomy, and "anxiety" on Deleddas part. I believe, on the other hand, that just as hos- tility and aggression are consequences of Zana's sexual repression, so is Zana's ambivalence. Freud names ambivalence as one of the major symp- toms of sexual repression Freud Inhibitions ; She alternates between avoiding the doctor's gaze and meeting it unabashedly.
At times she seems to flirt with the doctor, but then she immediately changes gears and becomes hostile and cold. We see this erratic behaviour when the narrator notes how Zana sits passively "con le mani intrecciate sulle ginocchia" ["her hands folded on her lap"], and then within seconds becomes angry and aggressive: Then, just seconds later, her mood changes again as she flirts with the doctor: This change in Zana's behaviour occurs almost always during her interactions with the doctor, as would be expected since the doctor is the one who reawakens sexual desire in Zana as he communicates his own desire to her.
Unlike the strange behaviour of "La Lupa," Zana's hostility is evoked by specific circumstances and people. Freud defines ambivalence as the manifestation of the conflict between conscious and unconscious desires, or between the super ego and id when the ego fails to mediate Freud Inhibitions ; Zana's ambivalence seems to stem from the conflict of a multitude of unconscious and conscious needs and desires, namely her desire for financial autonomy, her desire for sexual satisfaction, the need to obtain the poison to kill Zia Lenarda, her dislike of the doctor as the incarnate reminder of her desire to be with Jacu and her unconscious disdain of the doctor as the bourgeois outsider.
The text articulates this conflict of desires in the following passage: Therefore, Zana's ambivalence is not so much a sign of her weakness or ambiguity regarding female roles as it is of the frustration of her project of economic autonomy. By the same token, we may respond to Briziarelli's critique of the apparent lack of "female solidarity" in Deledda's works. In "La volpe" this critique would apply to the fact that Zana kills Zia Lenarda and in doing so seems to destroy the possibility of a joint female project of autonomy. The reason is, quite simply, because she can not marry Zia Lenarda, and it seems that in this particular society in order for a female to have eco- nomic independence and, yet, not risk being socially excluded as a spinster or morally loose woman, or on the other hand sexually repressed, she must marry.
The women in this society are pawns in the system of marriage both in terms of their social status and in their lack of legal and locally determined rights to material wealth. While Zia Lenarda is wealthy and Zana potentially so, they cannot marry one another.
Yet, as unmarried women they would most likely become social outcasts, sexually repressed, and insane. On the other hand, as married women, there is always the risk of losing that fortune to their husbands. These women need to improve their own situations first before they begin to think of working as a group. Therefore, at this point female autonomy means individual "regolamento di conto" or small-scale resistance rather than an overt collective effort. Some critics — such as Briziarelli — associate this failure with Deledda's tendency to align her female characters with the anti-colonial project of the "banditi" Yet, why does this connection necessarily suggest a lack of autonomy on the women's part?
The narrative of anti-colonial rebellion in the text is all about achieving autonomy by subverting the established order. While the text suggests a connection between Zana's project and the anti-colonial project of the "banditi", Zana's own economic independence is the project of primary importance in the text. Her participation in the class resistance — conscious or not — seems to be only a necessary means to her own project. In conclusion, it seems that while Zana's predicament is not ideal, her cunning and ambitious plot is woven to carve a space for herself within her oppressive society.
The text suggests that at least by choosing whom she marries and manipulating the system so that she can retain control over her money, she imagines relative autonomy, and the possibility of autonomy is certainly better than nothing at all. In fact, the relativity of Deledda's — 80 — Ri -i WMiNiNci Fi-mai i- Di siri female protagonists' projects of resistance seems to be the key component in re-evaluating their "feminist" importance. As twenty-first century read- ers, we ironically tend to prefer la Lupds direct attack on the patriarchal system and her outright refusal to repress her destructive sexual desire.
And yet, la Lupa s "project" for autonomy predictably ends in what the text sug- gests to be a kind of suicide. While Deledda's story suggests that Zana's plan is also possibly thwarted in the end by the doctor, as the "fox" is out- "foxed" when the doctor exposes Zana's secret passion for Jacu to the gaze of the community, the text asks us to think twice before condemning Zana's plan.
While her plan for autonomy remains only that -a plan — it is nevertheless a small step towards the actualization of autonomy. Her inability to realize this autonomy is no reflection upon the weakness or ambivalence of the female character, but rather upon the oppressive patri- archal society in which she lives. The same holds true for her lack of female solidarity; individual resistance is the best Zana can do given her circum- stances.
The act of consciousness evident in the text's representation of imagined autonomy and project to understand the obstructions to this autonomy is validated by the text as nevertheless effective by virtue of its potential. After all, consciousness is the first phase of all political change. If there is fatalism in Deledda, it is not fatalism like that ofVerga's "La lupa," in which the female character is morally corrupt before she is then corrupted by economic and sexual circumstances. Rather, in Deledda eco- nomic fatalism decidedly determines moral fatalism.
Moreover, unlike in Verga, whatever fatalism there is at work in the story is placed in check with the female character's relative autonomy so that even the term "fatal- ism" becomes questionable.
L-uomo-senza-immagine--La-filosofia-della-natura-di
Therefore, can one even use the term "fatal- ism" at all? In light of this question and others, the need to re-examine Deledda's female protagonists as complex and autonomous characters deserving not only of feminist criticism, but of criticism unprejudiced by "veristic" standards is all the more evident. An example of a crit- ic that deems Deledda's work as limited by her psychological "primitivism" is Aldo Borlenghi Abete Grazia Deledda Messina raises many of the same themes as Deledda, such as the socio-economic constraints placed on women in turn-of-the-century Italy.
Gunzberg also argues that Regionalism is important to the way one reads Deledda since Deledda's original appeal rests on her regionalist style. Deledda's academic work on folklore attests not only to the degree of sophistication of her use of folklore in the story, but to her complicated manipulation of folklore systems.
Mito di Rommel
While the argument that Deledda is unhistorical is often accompanied by a favourable read- ing of what is seen as the "timeless" qualities of her work, this argument is also used as an implicit criticism of her lack of social and economic interests, especial- ly since Verga her standard of criticism is found to be sensitive to socio-economic issues.
But like "La volpe," the texts ask: Certainly, Marianna Sirca and Cosima present a more ideal picture of female autonomy in that these female protagonists maintain autonomy outside marriage at least temporarily. Marianna and Cosima, however, are not in the same financially precarious predicament as Zana. Marianna Sirca begins after the question of Mariannas inheritance or dowry has already been resolved: The texts suggest that despite the initial edenic period of autonomy, there are problems when these women actually choose to marry.
Either they risk losing con- trol over their money as in Marianna's case or their societies inevitably place pres- sure on them to marry at the risk of becoming a social outcast in both novels. This footnote, therefore, does not claim to be a complete list of references, but only an example of some works that deal with the issue of anxiety and its symptoms: Instead "giustizia" in the Sardinian dialect would be expressed as "su zustu" In the famous "Su connotai" revolt took place which was a kind of public expression of economic and social "malessere" on the part of the local peo- ples.
Moreover, at the turn of the century many articles and books were published on the phenomenon of "banditismo" in Sardinia. About the same time various journals, such as L'Unione Sarda and La Nuova Sardegna,, were founded and devot- ed to these contemporary political issues. Therefore, while there was a "resistance" of its own coming into being on the proto-feminist front, it was not that of a violent and physically devious resistance as was the resistance happening on the anti-colonial front in the form of banditry and revolt , and would therefore almost certainly be more shocking if represented through a engendered appeal.
Briziarelli looks at "banditismo" in Cosima and La chiesa della solitudine. Marianna Sirca also engages the phenomenon of "banditismo" in the love affair between Marianna and the bandit Simone Sole. I am simply using Freud's theory of repression to understand Zana's controversial behaviour, and not to suggest any moral judge- ment on Deledda's part. Yet, like Deledda, she encourages us to consider that perhaps it is the only solution for any autonomy given the socio-economic circumstances.
On the other hand, when she flirts with the doctor, she is condemned by the male characters. Grazia Deledda e i suoi critici. Grazia Deledda and the Politics of Gender. Calvi, Giulia and Isabelle Chabot, ed. Come leggere Canne al vento di Grazia Deledda. Fratelli Treves, Editori, Heath and Company, Rommel non era membro del partito nazista; tuttavia come altri ufficiali della Wehrmacht, accolse favorevolmente la presa del potere da parte di Hitler [] [].
Tale piano andava contro i desideri di Schirach, il che condusse alla tacita rimozione di Rommel dal progetto. Hanno eretto numerose barricate che bloccano gli spostamenti dei civili ed espongono la popolazione a bombardamenti da cui non possono scappare. Il sindaco stima il numero di morti e feriti in Nel , Rommel, superando altri alti ufficiali, ricevette da Hitler una promozione a Generalmajor.
Remy sottolinea questo episodio per mostrare come Hitler non considerasse Rommel una persona particolarmente significativa []. Alcuni storici moderni, come Larry T. Lo storico Geoffrey P. Rommel aveva lasciato la Francia il 5 giugno ed il 6 era a casa a festeggiare il compleanno di sua moglie. Aveva in programma, o almeno questo sosteneva, di andare a visitare Hitler il giorno seguente per discutere della situazione in Normandia [] [].
Marvin Knorr esprime una visione empatica del comportamento di Rommel verso lo Stato Maggiore; egli sostiene che la loro condotta verso gli ufficiali di medio rango come lui rendevano comprensibile che Rommel fosse diffidente nei loro confronti; inoltre Rommel sospettava che gli ufficiali che gli mandavano lo avrebbero denunciato o avrebbero provato a prendere il suo posto.
Speidel era stato precedentemente in contatto con Carl Goerdeler, il leader civile della resistenza, ma non era in contatto con i cospiratori guidati da Stauffenberg, e fu preso in considerazione da Stauffenberg per via della sua posizione nel quartier generale di Rommel.
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Comunque nello stesso periodo i cospiratori a Berlino non erano a conoscenza della supposta decisione di Rommel di prendere parte alla cospirazione. Infatti il 16 maggio essi informarono Allen Dulles attraverso il quale speravano di negoziare con gli occidentali che non si poteva contare sul supporto di Rommel []. Evans sostiene che Rommel sapeva del complotto, ma era contrario ad esso []. I risultati del fallito complotto non costituiscono materia di dibattito per gli storici. Nel memorandum riguardante il tradimento di Rommel, Martin Bormann osservava: Lo psicologo Norman F.
Messenger fa notare che Rommel aveva molte ragioni per essere riconoscente a Hitler, inclusa la sua intercessione per fargli avere il comando di una divisione corazzata, il fatto di averlo elevato al rango di eroe nazionale e il continuo interesse e supporto nei suoi confronti da parte del dittatore. Lo studioso di scienze politiche Roland Detsch, in una recensione del libro di Maurice Remy, commenta che, nonostante gli sforzi di Remy, la strana relazione tra Hitler e Rommel rimane difficile da capire [].
Wolfram Pyta segnala che Hitler non pose in competizione la propria immagine di leader di guerra con quella di Rommel, in quanto i due erano perfettamente complementari. Comunque Rommel stesso, secondo Pyta, era caduto vittima del carisma di Hitler quasi fino alla fine []. John Pimlott scrive che Rommel era uno straordinario comandante militare che ha ampiamente meritato la sua reputazione come massimo esponente della guerra di movimento, ostacolato da fattori che non poteva controllare, sebbene spesso avesse accettato grandi rischi e fosse frustrato quando era costretto alla difensiva.
Williamson Murray e Allan R. Hecht commenta che non era suo desiderio descrivere Rommel come un combattente della resistenza, sebbene egli abbia dato supporto al tentativo di assassinare Hitler []. Lavori come il documentario e il libro omonimo del Mythos Rommel di Remy, e il libro del Rommel: Das Ende einer Legende pubblicato in inglese nel con il titolo Rommel: The End of a Legend scritto dallo storico tedesco Ralf Georg Reuth, hanno tenuto viva la discussione su Rommel e il suo mito [].
Marshall [] , Majdalany [] , Latimer [] e Showalter []. Sir David Hunt si descrive come un critico della mitologia di Rommel. Altri autori sostengono che le narrazioni popolari su Rommel costituiscano un mito fuorviato o deliberatamente falsificato. Tra questi James Sadkovich, che critica sia il supposto genio militare di Rommel che il trattamento riservato agli alleati italiani [] , ma anche James Robinson [] , Martin Kitchen [] , Alaric Searle [] , Robert Citino [] , Ralf Georg Reuth [] , Kenneth Macksey [].
Numerosi critici considerano discutibile la reverenza verso Rommel da parte della Bundeswehr , che lo vede come sua principale figura modello [] [] [] [] [] [] []. Lo scienziato politico Ralph Rotte invoca la sua sostituzione con Manfred von Richthofen []. Wolffsohn ritiene anche che tali riconoscimenti abbiano l'effetto non voluto e non auspicabile di promuovere l'immagine di un soldato umanitario e spericolato, il che - secondo questo autore - sarebbe poco utile per la Bundeswehr []. Da Wikipedia, l'enciclopedia libera. URL consultato il 3 agosto archiviato dall' url originale l'11 dicembre Storia di una sconfitta.
URL consultato l'8 novembre archiviato dall' url originale l'11 dicembre Storbeck, Erwin Rommel — Bitte mehr Sachlichkeit! URL consultato il 17 novembre Todestag von Erwin Rommel: