«Amore su la ruina»: strategie del desiderio mimetico nel primo libro del Forse che sì forse che no

The aim of this paper is to investigate the first chapter of Forse che sì forse che no (1910). D’Annunzio’s last novel brings together the myths of the technical age, celebrated by Futurism, and the conflicting forces of forbidden desire, debilitating eros, madness and fascination with the past. The structure of the chapter, after the beginning dedicated to the challenge of speed and the taste for danger, finds its centre of gravity in the long sequence of the visit to Palazzo Gonzaga, a scene from which variations on the themes of the double, incest, the decline of humanistic civilisation and a dense network of intertextual references unfold. Particular prominence is given to the comparison with Vernon Lee’s writings dedicated to Mantua and the labyrinth.