Il paradiso di Elsa Morante

Abstract

The term "Paradise" runs throughout Morante’s literary work. The existence of God, linked to its negation, corresponds to the author’s human and spiritual vision, which is double and contradictory. The same contradiction that characterises her innocent and idiotic character, full of Grace, in contrast to the intellectuals and educated ones, those who live without the "comfort of religion". In line with her defence of Paradise, it is necessary to remember Morante's essay Il Paradiso terrestre, published in Pro e contro la bomba atomica. This text paves the way for Morante’s reflections about the sacred importance of light in Beato Angelico’s paintings: Il beato propagandista del Paradiso. This latter text, included in the same collection, presents a cosmic vision which has medieval and Dantean elements. These "theoretical" essays by Morante introduce the same twisted and discordant metaphysical tension which we find in chapter 1947 of La Storia. This essay analyses some passages of that chapter by looking at them through Dante’s vision of Paradise and the importance of the metaphysics of light, in close correspondence with the sacred potential of poetic creation and the tragic and saving grace of Poetry.