The Riddle of the Sphinx and Ariadne's Thread: The critique of positivist and decadent sexual myths in Capuana's <i>La Sfinge</i>

Abstract

This article will briefly explore Capuana's sharply critical reception of Decadence and related movements in the years immediately preceding La Sfinge in order to gauge how far the novel may be read, as Pagliaro suggests, as an extension of his critical writings. Turning to La Sfinge it will suggest that insufficient effort has been made to interpret the novel's provocatively foregrounded symbols and allegorical characters. La Sfinge is not only a lucid and engaged reaction to a changing literary climate, but a response to political and cultural crisis in 1890s Italy.