TRA IL FRUSCIO DELLE CANNE, IL SOSPIRO DI UNO SPIRITO. TRACCE FANTASTICHE IN CANNE AL VENTO DI GRAZIA DELEDDA

Abstract

This study proposes an investigation into the presence of the fantastic in the novel Reeds in the Wind by the Nobel laureate, Grazia Deledda, a writer apparently far from that genre. The analysis will highlight how the novel balances itself between the real world and the fantastic element, creating an enchanted atmosphere that captivates the reader in its magical aura. Thus, it will reveal traces of enchantment and mystery thanks to which the realistic note expands, blurring the contours of the concrete data. Deledda’s fantastic narrative wavers between the strange and the wonderful, creating a space where the character’s spirit wanders and enjoys a freedom similar to that which we have in dreams. Imagination and surreality transfigure environments and characters: the Pintor ladies, their servant Efix and the people of Galte live side by side with fairies, ghosts of barons, vampires, evil spirits, spirits of unbaptised children, dwarves, giants creep. Along with them, we find some elements of the Sardinian tradition: the ammattadore, i.e. the elf with seven caps; the Janas, very rich fairies that on feast days mingle with the people dancing; the panas, women who died in childbirth. Efix, the best-characterised character in the novel, embodies both the real world and the supernatural one: in him, the symbiosis between the laws of mystery and those of natural forces, between rationality and the unconscious, between man's archaic and magical mentality, is fully expressed.