From Raw Emotions to Narrative Transformations: A Psychoanalytic Interpretation of the Horse Trope in Gianna Manzini’s Narrative

Authors

  • Maria Sergi La Trobe University

Abstract

This article advances the argument that Gianna Manzini’s oeuvre is best appreciated as an overarching autobiographical text in which the subject is not a pre-determined simulation drawn from memory. I argue, rather, that the aesthetics of her subjects’ constant coming-into-being throughout her writing constitutes an over-arching autobiographical account. The horse is one of Manzini’s recurring narrative tropes. I explore the evolution of the horse character through the psychoanalytic lens of Antonino Ferro’s theory of “narrative derivatives”, which are understood to sponsor “narrative transformations”.
I examine four horse characters drawn from four separate stories and argue that they contain and reflect hitherto unrecognised traumatic responses embedded in her father’s memory. I argue that in this way she accomplishes a narrative transformation of previously mute traumata.

Published

2016-02-03

How to Cite

Sergi, M. (2016). From Raw Emotions to Narrative Transformations: A Psychoanalytic Interpretation of the Horse Trope in Gianna Manzini’s Narrative. Spunti E Ricerche, 30(1), 74–84. Retrieved from https://www.spuntiericerche.com/index.php/spuntiericerche/article/view/61