Sopra il cadavere di un albero di sorbe: «Corporale» e la questione del romanzo

The essay offers a reinterpretation of "Corporale" by Paolo Volponi, focusing on the elements within the text that highlight the author’s reflection on the forms of the novel. In this direction, the analysis centers on the strongly allegorical image of a tree felled by the protagonist, Gerolamo Aspri, as a symbol of an indulgent literature that, for Volponi, represents an explicit target – as explained in the lecture "The Difficulties of the Novel", delivered during the early stages of the novel’s conception. In contrast, the opposing and mirrored image of an abandoned, chaotic, and lush orchard is here taken as an emblem of a literature that deliberately positions itself outside and against conventional frameworks, a stance that "Corporale" itself embodies through its textual structure. In this sense, the meta-literary element is identified through the analysis of the blending of narrative genres – including crime fiction, the diary, and the epistolary novel – present in the text, which in itself reflects the author’s intention to question the forms of the contemporary novel in order to revive and reinforce the literature’s potential to challenge the status quo.