The Expression of the Inexpressible in

Locating the greatest Italian poet of the twentieth century, Eugenio Montale, firmly within European Modernism, this book examines the struggle with language that is central to his work. In its unravelling of the inexpressibility paradox, the book offers a new reading of Montale's early verse, and reveals how in articles and metapoetic comments Montale gives us insights into both his poetics and the whole process of expression.

Clodagh J. Brook is a lecturer in Italian Studies at the University of Birmingham.

About This Book

ix

Introduction: The Development of the Inexpressibility Topos in European Literature

1

(14)

Eugenio Montale and the Inexpressible

15

(34)

Writing: Expression or Creation?

15

(14)

Identifying the Inexpressible

29

(18)

Re-Evaluating Terms

47

(2)

Metaphor and Figurative Language

49

(48)

Disparity and Tension

52

(9)

Defamiliarization

61

(9)

Networks of Metaphor

70

(6)

The Montalian `Object'

76

(21)

Negation

97

(48)

Hypothesis and Doubt

97

(4)

The via negativa

101

(2)

The Way of De-Anthropomorphism

103

(9)

The Way of Erasure

112

(18)

The Way of Contradiction

130

(10)

Negation: The Rhetoric of Failure?

140

(5)

Silence

145

(32)

Silence: The Potent Myth

146

(5)

The Purpose of Silence

151

(13)

Silence as Withholding: The Woman and God

164

(7)

Silence as Withholding: Secrecy and Mystery

171

(6)

Appendix

177

(3)

Bibliography

180

(13)

General Index

193

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The Expression of the Inexpressible in Eugenio Montale's Poetry Metaphor, Negation, and Silence

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials