L’antroponimia nel Don Giovanni in Sicilia di Brancati: realismo e barocco tra satira di costume e tematiche esistenziali

Abstract

The anthroponyms in the novel Don Giovanni in Sicilia (1941) by Vitaliano Brancati range between the evident realism of surnames, that are typical in the Etna area – or anyway present in Sicily –, and the frequent use of devices to connote the naming according to a baroque-expressionist style. The author exploits the several functions of onomatology to finalize the definition of characters. The countless cross-references to the beasts in the surnames, nicknames and appellatives are supposed to be read within a fable tradition that reaches to the lesson of the satiric Leopardi.