“Nothing but evasion”
Narrative opacity in Charles Dickens’s The Italian Prisoner
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1285/i22390359v75p241-256Parole chiave:
Dickens, Narrative opacity, Unnarration, Italy, Continental justiceAbstract
Although Charles Dickens is renowned for detailed narration, his fiction also relies on strategically significant omissions. The article examines these absences through Lamarque’s concept of “narrative opacity” (2014), according to which textual meaning stems from the relationship between narrative content and its mode of presentation. Also drawing on Gerld Prince’s notions of “unnarration” (i.e. events that cannot be narrated) and “disnarration” (i.e. events that only occur hypothetically or negatively), the essay analyses Dickens’ short story “The Italian Prisoner” (1860) and explores the author’s uneasiness in representing Italian criminality. Through close textual analysis, the paper argues that the story’s tripartite structure foregrounds opacity surrounding time, space, and criminal agency. The protagonist, Giovanni Carlavero, is imprisoned and released without clear explanation, and narrator and reader alike are excluded from complete knowledge of events. These omissions generate narrative tension, while simultaneously inviting the reader to actively reconstruct meaning. The only plausible interpretation, however, casts the Italian legal system in a negative light, depicting it as opaque and corrupt. Through these strategies, Dickens articulates a broader critique of continental justice and aligns with nineteenth-century representations of Southern Europe as a morally and institutionally deficient Other. “The Italian Prisoner” thus reflects Victorian anxieties about foreign criminality and resonates with Dickens’ portrayal of foreign offenders in Little Dorrit (1857) and A Tale of Two Cities (1859).
Sebbene le ricche e dettagliate narrazioni di Charles Dickens siano rinomate, l’autore ricorre a volte a omissioni narrative strategicamente rilevanti. L’articolo esamina tali assenze alla luce del concetto di “opacità narrativa” elaborato da Lamarque (2014), secondo cui il significato testuale deriva dalla relazione tra il contenuto narrativo e le sue modalità di presentazione. Avvalendosi delle nozioni di “unnarration” (eventi che non possono essere narrati) e “disnarration” (eventi che accadono ipoteticamente o negativamente) formulate da Gerald Prince, l’articolo analizza il racconto “The Italian Prisoner” (1860) ed esplora il disagio dell’autore nel rappresentare la criminalità italiana. L’articolo suggerisce che la struttura tripartita del racconto evidenzia un’opacità legata a tempo, spazio e responsabilità criminale. Il protagonista, Giovanni Carlavero, viene inesplicabilmente imprigionato e rilasciato, escludendo tanto il narratore che il lettore da una completa conoscenza degli eventi. Queste omissioni generano una tensione anrrativa e invitano il lettore a ricosrtruire attivamente il significato. La sola ricostruzione plausibile, tuttavia, mette in cattiva luce il sistema giudiziario italiano, raffigurandolo come opaco e corrotto. Attrabverso queste strategie, Dickens articola una più ampia critica della giustizia continentale, allineandosi alle rappresentazioni ottocentesche dell’Europa meridionale quale Altro moralmente e istituzionalmente inferiore. “The Italian Prisoner” riflette le ansie Vittoriane nei confronti della criminalità straniera e rispecchia la rappresentazione dei criminali stranieri in “Little Dorrit” (1857) e “A Tale of Two Cities” (1859).
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