"I garruli trastulli". Aspetti del gioco nella poesia di Giovanni Pascoli

In some passages from the poems by Pascoli references are made to children's games or ludic dynamics are recalled. These themes would lend themselves to a wider research work including the elements pertinent to forbidden games (for instance, erotic). In the wake of the theoretical contributions of Huizinga, Callois, Fink and Benjamin, this essay makes a distinction between some typologies and modes of various games - from the generic 'ruzzare' to sadistic, agonistic or role games - revealing their constant tangency with the theme of death. The ludic escape, often accompanied by shrill and sharp sounds, is associated in various modes to the danger of a threat, to a violent interruption, or simply to an imminent death, which can reveal itself as an external trauma or as a force rooted in the game itself. Playing in Pascoli gives shape not so much to a dimension separated from life but to a privileged ground in the recollection and narration of a trauma.