Naturale e artificiale nei romanzi di Paolo Volponi: dalla distruzione dell’idillio alla difesa dell’immortalità selvaggia

This paper examines the dialectic between nature and the artificial in Paolo Volponi’s novels, from Memoriale (1962) to Le mosche del capitale (1989). Written in the context of Italy’s economic boom, Volponi’s works record the anthropological shift of industrialization, deconstructing the idyllic bond between man and nature. Through figures such as Albino Saluggia and Anteo Crocioni, the narrative stages alienation, utopia, and catastrophe, while Corporale and Il pianeta irritabile radicalize the loss of the natural in favor of the artificial. Yet Volponi also defends a “wild immortality,” envisioning literature as a space for ethical reflection and for rethinking humanity’s place within a transformed environment.