Distopia linguistica e isole felici in Carlo Dossi e Giovanni Faldella

Dossi and Faldella are two prestigious figures of one of the most important protest movements, known as the Scapigliatura. However, by analysing their two novels La colonia felice and Sant’Isidoro, I show that there is a crucial contradiction in their work, between the linguistic style (that I call linguistic dystopia) and the content. Thus, I investigate the expressionistic use of language that the two writers employ to criticize the mediocre style of the paternalistic novelists. Meanwhile, I argue that the theme of the happy island they choose is indeed a charming topos in utopian literature, but far from corresponding to a location in which a different form of sociability could be experimented.