Open AccessA Platonic Look at Herself: Knowledge, Love, and Soul in Sibilla Aleramo’s <i>Dialogo con Psiche</i>
Author(s) -
Bárbara Alfano
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
quaderni d'italianistica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2293-7382
pISSN - 0226-8043
DOI - 10.33137/q.i..v39i1.32637
Subject(s) - soul , foundation (evidence) , self knowledge , philosophy , triangulation , platonism , aesthetics , epistemology , literature , psychology , theology , art , history , archaeology , cartography , geography
Dialogo con Psiche (1909–10) has received little consideration from scholars of Sibilla Aleramo; yet, this is a work of paramount importance for understanding Aleramo’s approach to knowledge and hence gaining a deeper insight into her subsequent autobiographical novels. For Aleramo, knowledge cannot be separated from the knowledge of the Self that she calls soul. Love is the key that opens the door to that wisdom. This essay explores the triangulation between knowledge, love, and soul in Dialogo con Psiche, which is the foundation of Aleramo’s personal experience as represented in her autobiographical works; in so doing, the essay also clarifies the writer’s strong relationship with Platonism, a relationship to which scholars of Aleramo might want to pay renewed attention.