The article analyzes, in its first part, the image of Ferrara and the role of time in Bassani’s novels, with particular attention to the urban chronotope he crafted, where the history of the deportation of Ferrarese Jews intertwines with the city’s topography, establishing a division between the Ferrara of the saved and that of the submerged. The article then focuses on the autobiographical element, strongly implicated in Bassani’s narration, where everything is filtered through memory, which, while faithfully rendering the city’s history and geography, simultaneously transforms it into a “fantastic,” mental place. This is as required by authentic art, by the great tradition of the historical novel, which Bassani defended in a famous controversy against the Italian Neo-avant-garde (the Gruppo 63) and in his quieter critique of the French Nouveau Roman. In this context, the second part of the study offers a reading of The Heron, the fifth chapter of The Novel of Ferrara, perhaps the most mature fruit of Bassani’s narrative. The novel aligns with the themes of Francis Bacon’s Neo-Expressionist painting and its variant, the Existential Realism of Alberto Sughi, discussed by Giuseppe Raimondi, one of Bassani’s mentors in art writing during his Bologna years. This is followed by a detailed account of the development of The Heron, with attention to the functioning of narrative time and, above all, to the theme of guilt and its redemption, linked to the story of the Ferrarese Jews and addressed repeatedly, in verse and prose, also by Primo Levi.
| Published in | International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 13, Issue 5) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ijla.20251305.12 |
| Page(s) | 114-123 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Ferrara, Racial Laws, Chronotope, Neo-Expressionism, Neo-avant-garde, Primo Levi
| [1] | Scarpa, D. Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura; 2021, pp. 101-116: 109. |
| [2] | Bassani, G. Racconti, diari, cronache (1935-1956), pp. 341-349. |
| [3] | Frandini, P. Giorgio Bassani e il fantasma di Ferrara. Lecce: Manni; 2004. |
| [4] | Bassani, G., In risposta VI, pp. 1325-1326: 1322. |
| [5] | Bassani, G. In risposta VI, p. 1322. |
| [6] | Zalambani, M. Censura, istituzioni e politica letteraria in URSS (1964-1985). Florence: Firenze University Press; 2009, pp. 88-89. |
| [7] | Bassani, G. In risposta III, pp. 1215-1219. |
| [8] | Bassani, G. In risposta I, pp. 1169-1175: 1172. |
| [9] | Bassani, G. Laggiù, in fondo al corridoio [Down there, at the end of the corridor], pp. 935-943: 939. |
| [10] | Cancogni, M. I rimorsi di Bassani. Non gli riesce dimenticare, in Bassani, G. Interviste 1955-1993, pp. 100-109: 102. |
| [11] | Cancogni, M., Perché ho scritto “L’airone”, in Bassani, G. Interviste 1955-1993, pp. 158-173: 158-159. |
| [12] | Bassani, G. Introduzione [Introduction], in Banchieri, Ferroni, Giannini, Luporini, Sughi pittori. Milano: Galleria Gian Ferrari; 1963, p. 3. |
| [13] | Raimondi, G. Alberto Sughi. Rome: De Luca Editore; 1965, p. 11. |
| [14] | Giardino, A. Giorgio Bassani. Percorsi dello sguardo nelle arti visive, p. 51. |
APA Style
Rabboni, R. (2025). Ferrara, Time and Guilt in Giorgio Bassani’s the Heron. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 13(5), 114-123. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20251305.12
ACS Style
Rabboni, R. Ferrara, Time and Guilt in Giorgio Bassani’s the Heron. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2025, 13(5), 114-123. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20251305.12
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20251305.12,
author = {Renzo Rabboni},
title = {Ferrara, Time and Guilt in Giorgio Bassani’s the Heron
},
journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
volume = {13},
number = {5},
pages = {114-123},
doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20251305.12},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20251305.12},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20251305.12},
abstract = {The article analyzes, in its first part, the image of Ferrara and the role of time in Bassani’s novels, with particular attention to the urban chronotope he crafted, where the history of the deportation of Ferrarese Jews intertwines with the city’s topography, establishing a division between the Ferrara of the saved and that of the submerged. The article then focuses on the autobiographical element, strongly implicated in Bassani’s narration, where everything is filtered through memory, which, while faithfully rendering the city’s history and geography, simultaneously transforms it into a “fantastic,” mental place. This is as required by authentic art, by the great tradition of the historical novel, which Bassani defended in a famous controversy against the Italian Neo-avant-garde (the Gruppo 63) and in his quieter critique of the French Nouveau Roman. In this context, the second part of the study offers a reading of The Heron, the fifth chapter of The Novel of Ferrara, perhaps the most mature fruit of Bassani’s narrative. The novel aligns with the themes of Francis Bacon’s Neo-Expressionist painting and its variant, the Existential Realism of Alberto Sughi, discussed by Giuseppe Raimondi, one of Bassani’s mentors in art writing during his Bologna years. This is followed by a detailed account of the development of The Heron, with attention to the functioning of narrative time and, above all, to the theme of guilt and its redemption, linked to the story of the Ferrarese Jews and addressed repeatedly, in verse and prose, also by Primo Levi.
},
year = {2025}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Ferrara, Time and Guilt in Giorgio Bassani’s the Heron AU - Renzo Rabboni Y1 - 2025/10/28 PY - 2025 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20251305.12 DO - 10.11648/j.ijla.20251305.12 T2 - International Journal of Literature and Arts JF - International Journal of Literature and Arts JO - International Journal of Literature and Arts SP - 114 EP - 123 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2331-057X UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20251305.12 AB - The article analyzes, in its first part, the image of Ferrara and the role of time in Bassani’s novels, with particular attention to the urban chronotope he crafted, where the history of the deportation of Ferrarese Jews intertwines with the city’s topography, establishing a division between the Ferrara of the saved and that of the submerged. The article then focuses on the autobiographical element, strongly implicated in Bassani’s narration, where everything is filtered through memory, which, while faithfully rendering the city’s history and geography, simultaneously transforms it into a “fantastic,” mental place. This is as required by authentic art, by the great tradition of the historical novel, which Bassani defended in a famous controversy against the Italian Neo-avant-garde (the Gruppo 63) and in his quieter critique of the French Nouveau Roman. In this context, the second part of the study offers a reading of The Heron, the fifth chapter of The Novel of Ferrara, perhaps the most mature fruit of Bassani’s narrative. The novel aligns with the themes of Francis Bacon’s Neo-Expressionist painting and its variant, the Existential Realism of Alberto Sughi, discussed by Giuseppe Raimondi, one of Bassani’s mentors in art writing during his Bologna years. This is followed by a detailed account of the development of The Heron, with attention to the functioning of narrative time and, above all, to the theme of guilt and its redemption, linked to the story of the Ferrarese Jews and addressed repeatedly, in verse and prose, also by Primo Levi. VL - 13 IS - 5 ER -
Department of Humanities and Cultural Heritage, University of Udine, Udine, Italy
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