Le strategie del chiedere nelle «Lettere» di Caterina da Siena

Le Lettere di Caterina da Siena sono state più volte studiate sul piano dell'espressione linguistica e delle strategie retoriche, e se ne sono evidenziate tanto le caratteristiche di unitarietà quanto i tratti di variazione in rapporto al destinatario e all'argomento. Lo studio che qui si presenta intende individuare l'incidenza dell'intenzione comunicativa sul variare di lingua e stile lungo il corpus delle Lettere. Si analizzano in particolare i procedimenti messi in atto dalla santa senese per chiedere ai propri interlocutori l'obbedienza al volere divino, l'osservanza di alcune regole comportamentali o, con maggiore energia, l'azione decisa contro i nemici della fede. In tutte le lettere, infatti, un posto centrale e ineliminabile è assunto dalla petitio rivolta in forme adeguate e diverse ai propri destinatari. Il chiedere e l'oggetto della richiesta sono sottolineati ora da un uso sapiente dei verbi volere e pregare, ora dalla sostituzione impercettibile del pronome allocutivo che spersonalizza l'interlocutore, ora dall'alternarsi della prima e della seconda persona in rapporto al contenuto da comunicare. Il rilievo dato a ciò che Caterina chiede, e al modo in cui lo chiede, è senz'altro legato al ruolo profetico della santa, che nelle Lettere, al contrario di quanto avviene nel Dialogo della divina provvidenza, affiora in modo costante. Caterina è profeta, perché profetica è la missione di chi si pone come guida dei cristiani nella loro vita storica ancor prima che nella loro spiritualità, e ogni strategia messa in atto nell'epistolario per ottenere la vittoria del bene è testimonianza di una tale funzione.The Strategies of Asking in the «Letters» of Saint Catherine of Siena. The Letters of St. Catherine of Siena have been repeatedly studied for their linguistic expression and rhetorical strategies; both similarities and differences relative to the recipient and to the topic have already been focused. The study here presented seeks to establish the effect of the communicative intention on changes in language and style in the corpus of the Letters. In particular, the procedures used by Catherine in asking her correspondents to obey the divine will, observe some rules of conduct or, more passionately, vigorously act against the enemies of faith are analyzed here. In all the Letters, a central position is taken by the petitio which is addressed in different and adequate styles to the recipients. The asking itself and the object of it are underlined either by a sophisticate use of the verbs to want and to pray, or by the unnoticeable substitution of the addressing pronoun that depersonalizes the interlocutor, as well as by the alternate use of the first and second person, according to the content to be conveyed. The relevance ascribed to what Catherine requires, and the way in which she demands it, is related to the Saint's prophetic role which regularly emerges from the Letters, while it is absent in the Dialogue of Divine Providence. Catherine is a prophet: prophetical is the mission of one who sets herself as a guide to Christians in their wordly affairs rather than in their spirituality. Every single strategy adopted in the Letters to obtain the victory of the good witnesses this role

Programming nonreciprocity and reversibility in multistable mechanical metamaterials

Nonreciprocity can be passively achieved by harnessing material nonlinearities. In particular, networks of nonlinear bistable elements with asymmetric energy landscapes have recently been shown to support unidirectional transition waves. However, in these systems energy can be transferred only when the elements switch from the higher to the lower energy well, allowing for a one-time signal transmission. Here, we show that in a mechanical metamaterial comprising a 1D array of bistable arches nonreciprocity and reversability can be independently programmed and are not mutually exclusive. By connecting shallow arches with symmetric energy wells and decreasing energy barriers, we design a reversible mechanical diode that can sustain multiple signal transmissions. Further, by alternating arches with symmetric and asymmetric energy landscapes we realize a nonreciprocal chain that enables propagation of different transition waves in opposite directions

L'inventario di un universo. Antropologia e letteratura in Corrado Alvaro

Some of Corrado Alvaro's works, especially those regarding Calabria, are often evaluated not only for their literary value, but also for their documentary value. The article summarizes some points of the post-modern debate on ethnographic writing and moves in that area of compatibility which anthropologists and literary critics converse. The different contrasts that seem to constantly characterize Alvaro's works - country/world, metahistory/history, magical realism/realism - once composed and read in their entirety, reveal a specific structure which is implied in most of his literature. The landscape, in particular, is the element that makes everything coherent, and allows us to understand some specific dynamics  of Alvaro's memory

La didattica fondante di Brunetto Latini

L’article partage les positions les plus récentes sur la postériorité du Tesoretto par rapport au Tresor et il veut souligner les différentes intentions communicatives de l’œuvre en vers. Le Tesoretto s’adresse à un public laïque plus ample en favorisant son instruction ; il se sert donc d’une exposition et d’une langue plus captivantes, qui accentuent les caractères narratifs de la vision et les stratégies textuelles avec des fins didactiques. Malgré cela, les vers sont caractérisés par un lexique scientifique et philosophique qui, en beaucoup de cas, n’avait pas encore été utilisé dans la langue vulgaire. La poésie didactique en langue vulgaire, en effet, s’était jusque-là concentrée sur les sujets religieux, tandis que le Tesoretto concerne aussi la composition physique du monde. Avec le petit poème Brunetto Latini établit un nouveau genre et une nouvelle terminologie tout en compensant ainsi l’œuvre de son inachèvement artistique.The article shares the latest positions which consider that the Tesoretto was composed later than the Tresor and aims to highlight the different communicative intentions of the work in verse. The Tesoretto wanted to involve a wider lay public and contribute to their education; it uses therefore an engaging construction and language which emphasize, for didactic purposes, the narrative characters of the vision and the textual strategies. Nonetheless, the verse are characterized by a scientific and philosophical lexicon that in many cases had never been used before in the vernacular. Until then, in fact, the vernacular didactic poetry concentrated on religious themes, while the Tesoretto is also concerned with the physical composition of the world. With his poem Brunetto Latini founded a new genre and a new terminology, compensating in this way for the artistic incompleteness of this work