Lorenzo Blasi

The research project (supervisor: Prof. Siriana Sgavicchia; co-supervisor: Prof. Michele Dantini) aims to offer a comprehensive analysis of the narrative works of Guido Morselli (1912-1973), consisting of nine novels and a collection of short stories.

The methodological approach of the investigation is twofold: on one hand, it examines Morselli by situating him within the broader landscape of twentieth-century Italian novelistic history, applying a critical perspective generally overlooked in light of his unique narrative experience, which combines realism, fantastic digressions, and philosophical reflections in equal measure; on the other hand, it makes use of the tools of stylistic criticism and philology, seeking to explain the text also through the archival-philological study of the genetic material related to Morselli’s last four novels (Roma senza papa, Contro-passato prossimo, Divertimento 1889, and Dissipatio H.G., which remain largely unexplored) and preserved in the Morselli Collection at the Manuscript Center of the University of Pavia.