Metamorfosi proteiforme La metamorfosi nelle arti e nelle scienze

Della Metamorfosi si parla, infine, come di un romanzo di formazione al rovescio.
Infatti, se nel romanzo di formazione a prevalere è la linearità, in quello di Kafka si assiste a un
ribaltamento della finalità stessa di un Pinocchio di Collodi, per esempio. La storia di Gregor è
quindi il resoconto di una maturazione mancata. La lotta dell’uomo-insetto per ottenere un
riconoscimento nella “norma” s’infrange subito contro un sistema esterno che rifiuta il “diverso”, lo
combatte, lo fagocita.
Anche nella letteratura inglese viene affrontato il tema della metamorfosi. Infatti, nel 1886 viene
pubblicato un capolavoro che ebbe molto successo: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Il romanziere è Robert Louis Stevenson.
1.6 The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson.
Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh in 1850. Because of his poor health he spent most of
his childhood in bed. In his adolescence he travelled a lot in search of friendlier climate; he lived in
the south of England, Germany, France and Italy.
He took up engineering at university, following his father’s
footsteps, but he was not enthusiastic about it. All the time he was
in conflict with his social environment, the respectable Victorian
world; he grew his hair long, his manners were eccentric and he
became one of the first examples of the bohemian in Britain,
openly rejecting his family’s religious principles and the love for
respectability.
After giving up engineering, he graduated in law in 1875 and
decided to devote himself to writing. He went to France where he
married Fanny Osborne, and since his health was deteriorating,
they moved to Australia and Tahiti, setting down at Vailima in
Samoa.
He died of a brain haemorrhage in 1894.
1.6.1 The plot
Mr. Utterson is a London lawyer who is a friend of Dr. Jekyll.
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Milano, 2007, p.134
I was born in the year 18--- to a large fortune, endowed besides with excellent parts, inclined by nature to industry,
fond of the respect of the wise and good among my fellow-men, and thus, as might have been supposed, with every
guarantee of an honourable and distinguished future. And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety
of disposition, such as has made the happiness of many, but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious
desire to carry my head high, and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public.
Jekyll gave up his regular practice to experiment with non-traditional medicine. Utterson is
concerned because Jekyll has written a will that leaves all his money to his new partner Mr. Hyde.
p. 34.
Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a
displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and
he spoke with a husky, whispering and somewhat broken voice; all these were points against him, but not all of these
together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust, loathing, and fear with which Mr. Utterson regarded him. "There
must be something else," said the perplexed gentleman. "There is something more, if I could find a name for it. God
bless me, the man seems hardly human! Something troglodytic, shall we say? Or can it be the old story of Dr. Fell? Or
is it the mere radiance of a foul soul that thus transpires through, and transfigures, its clay continent? The last, I think;
for, O my poor old Harry Jekyll, if ever I read Satan's signature upon a face, it is on that of your new friend."
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