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STEfANOREDAELLI
StefanoRedaelli
NonverballanguageofmadnessinthenovelFratelli
ofCarmeloSamona
Summary
CarmeloSamonàdedicatedalmostallhisliteraryworks,writtenbetween1978and1990,
intheperiodaftertheentryintoforceofLaw180(BasagliaLaw)whichledtotheclosingdown
ofpsychiatrichospitalsinItaly,tohisexperiencesoflivinginthesamehousewithapersonsuf-
feringfromamentalillness.EspeciallyhisnovelFratelli(Brothers)focusesonaclosecontact
withinsanity,outsidethewallsofpsychiatricfacilities.Insanityspeaksadifferentlanguage:the
spokenoneisreducedtosome“partsofanevokeddiscourse”;thenon-verbaloneismanifested
bythebody,throughagame,agift.Theword1initsregression1isfragmentedandfades
away;giveswaytoarchaiclanguageswhichencourageprimary1emotive1communication
thatfeedsonawishtocreateabondwithanotherperson.WritingisatoolusedbySamonà
topresentinsanity.Throughcataloguing,describingandcarefullyorganizingwords,gesturesand
disordersofhisillbrother,hereconstructsadetailedpictureofinsanity,identifieshimselfwith
amemberofthefamily,copieshisgesturesandwordsandfollowschaoticpaths.Samonàbal-
ancesonablurredlineofnormalityandinsanity,healthandillness.Writingconstitutesaformof
defence,aneurosisofperfection,anattempttoforcetheverbalchaosofinsanityintoasyntactic
order,formingsomethingnormaloutofabnormality.Butwritingfailshere.Andthisisthemost
shockingfeatureofSamonà’sliteraryworks:suchapowerfulandmasteredtoolaswritingturns
outtobeimproper.Ithastobelaiddown,likearms,meansofcontrolandanattemptofnor-
malisation.Tocommunicatewithinsanity,thespokenlanguagehastosurrender,togodown,to
remaininsilence,silencewhichisahermeneuticattitudefocusedonlisteningandadimension
opentoacceptdifference.Otherlanguages1nonverbal,affective1mustbeusedhere.Andthe
wordneedstobemadeflesh1anembracewhichputstogethereverythingthatwascrushedby
thelanguage1andneedstobemadegame,inordertoexperiencestatesofmindimpossibleto
beexperiencedthroughaspokenword.
