Lo smeraldo di Mario Soldati tra surrealismo e distopia

Lo smeraldo by Mario Soldati can be fully incorporated in the atmosphere of the great evening of the world to which Bruno Pischedda refers in relation to Italian literature of the 1970’s. A literature that responds with apocalyptic culture and romantic anti-capitalism as reputing Modernism. The dystopian sphere of the novel can be interpreted through the distance created via the use of dream. A sense of conclusion is arrived at through a dreamlike dimension and as a necessary passage for the re-composition of the Self. The research work strictly focuses on the study of main sources of the novel within the identification of the epic-adventurous matrix as a substantial component of the work: the involved authors are Ariosto and Stevenson, who are directly and indirectly mentioned by the writer in the course of the work as prolific models of the imaginary. Regarding the part of the mystery, the investigated models are those connected to Faust and Don Giovanni, such as modern myths of desire in its dual ancestry to knowledge and towards pleasure. Is also taken into big consideration the author's internal memory and the influence in Lo smeraldo from previous works by the author, identifying the novel as a summary of the biographical and literary experiences of Soldati. It was significant the consultation of archival material kept in the Soldati archives at the Apice center of Milan. It has been examined, and partly included in the appendix of this thesis, the unpublished screenplay The devil in the bottle, drawn from the story of Stevenson, and some elements which have been correlated with Lo smeraldo, have proven useful insights on the work of Soldati.