Vista, parole e inganno nelle “Nuvole” di Aristofane (vv. 223-411) – Cristiana Caserta – Stratagemmi 29/30

Descrizione

Within Aristophanes’ Clouds, and from a comparative point of view, the article examines what comes out being a gap between what Socrates and the Clouds say happens on stage, and what actually must have happened (i.e. what the audience must have seen). In the section 223-411, most of the stage directions in text give cue to imagine a different scenario from the literal meaning. Not least, a large part of the comic force of the scene seems to spring exactly from that discrepancy. This unusual perspective then casts new light on precious details of the staging (costumes, stage movements, and audio), and leads to consider the Aristophanes’Socratesdefinitelynotasanaturalistorastronomerparody(asarguedinpartoftheliterature),but–whatbetterfitswiththehistori-calprofileofthephilosopherasnowadaysknown–asawell-roundedandincisive parody of the kind of the sophist, the man whose well-chosen words can effectively (and tragicomically) change the tell and the meaning of the reality