«Come una gemma» sta «a un ciottolo»: Leopardi in gara con i volgarizzatori di Omero

Abstract

Giacomo Leopardi publishes the translation of the first volume of Homer’s Odyssey about five years after Ippolito Pindemonte’s translation of the first two books. In the same period the poet from Recanati translates part of the second book without publishing it. The data testify that a rivalry arose between the two regarding this enterprise, so much so that it resulted in a kind of Homeric competition. In the first part this essay explores this dispute. In the second part it analyzes the two proems in parallel, highlighting the different theoretical, linguistic and stylistic approaches of the two writers. The analysis favors Leopardi’s interpretative choices by considering their relationship with the vocabulary of Canti.