The career of a spot. About the humorous storytelling

Abstract

A common literary motif in the production of scapigliati authors, as exemplified by the case of Carlo Dossi, is the involuntary appearance of a stain on the page that is being written. Although the stain sometimes fulfills a merely humorous function, its appearance always implies a problematic and multifaceted assimilation: the stain can be a simple literary theme, but also an invitation to a greater participation by the reader —who is forced to complete the work— or, finally, an obstacle or impediment in the creative process itself. Besides that, from a historical perspective, the use of stain as a literary motif shows also an evident relationship with some aesthetic taste (especially present in contemporary macchiaoli painters) for the unfinished work and the reflection that is generated around the subjective processes of creation and reception of the artworks.