Dante's Cannibal Count: Unnatural Hunger and its Reckoning
2020; Boston University; Volume: 28; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/arion.28.1.0067
ISSN2327-6436
Autores Tópico(s)Paleopathology and ancient diseases
ResumoDante’s Cannibal Count: Unnatural Hunger and its Reckoning PATRICIA VÁZQUEZ In 2001 the bones of an allegedly cannibalistic Count were removed from a tomb in Pisa to let science determine whether or not Count Ugolino had eaten his children as his last meal, as recounted by Dante in Canto 33 of the Inferno. Dante invites us to peer at the wicked soul of Count Ugolino as an eccentric doctor might beckon us to gawk at a glass jar filled with his strangest medical oddity. Except what is extraordinarily grotesque about Ugolino isn’t for the eye to see, it’s a deformity of the soul, he’s a moral monster. And yet, he wasn’t a serial killer, and violent murderers on a scale of evil are not relegated to the bottom of hell, as one might assume. In Dante’s architectonic vision of hell, that prize goes to the treacherous, and the traitor par excellence is Count Ugolino. We tend to forget this as we listen with both fascination and horror to Ugolino’s entreaties. We consequently, and quite predictably, abandon reason and impartiality by rising up to defend him on the grounds that hunger would drive anyone mad. We often assume Dante errs or dismiss his reasons for assigning Ugolino to the ninth and lowest circle of hell. Perhaps to put these rumors to rest the descendants of Count Ugolino della Gherardesca graciously gave paleontologist Francesco Mallegni permission to carry out DNA tests on the five skeletons that were buried in a crypt under the family chapel. If the forensic analysis is to be believed, Dante was mistaken. “Even if Ugolino had wanted to eat the flesh of his offspring,” Mallegni explained, “he couldn’t have because he didn’t have any teeth”1 (fig.1). arion 28.1 spring/summer 2020 68 dante’s cannibal count Although Mallegni is 98 per cent certain the genetic tests match Ugolino’s living relatives,2 that did not stop archivist Paola Benigni from coming forward in 2008 to challenge the findings, claiming the documents used to locate the bones were fascist forgeries.3 But the professor of paleontology’s tests are compelling. Consider how the mitochondrial DNA (passed down from mother to son) proves the kinship ties between those imprisoned in the Tower. You have an aging grandfather, his two sons, and the clincher, his two grandchildren were “cousins by unrelated mothers and the tests bore that out as well.”4 In clearing the Count of his alleged cannibalism, however , Mallegni’s tests have consigned the Count’s crimes to the realm of fiction. What’s problematic about Mallegni dismissFigure 1. “Ugolino della Gherardesca [Forensic facial reconstruction. By permission of Francesco Mallegni] | Che Faccia Avevano I Vip Del Passato —Foto.” Il Tirreno. February 03, 2015. Slide 6 of 17. Accessed January 29, 2019. http://iltirreno.gelocal.it/empoli/foto-e-video/2015/02/03/fotogalleria /che-faccia-avevano-i-vip-del-passato-1.10793432#6. Patricia Vazquez 69 ing Canto 33 as “a beautiful dramatic verse about a political enemy” is that it implies subterfuge on Dante’s part.5 As if his disposition towards Ugolino had been colored by his enmity towards the Count, resulting in a portrait that evokes both fear and loathing. “Clearly a scientist and a poet see the world differently,” Mallegni explains in an interview, “but it makes for fascinating work to compare the two.”6 What Mallegni concludes after comparing the science with the poetry is that Dante “only insinuates that Ugolino ate his offspring” and that the target of the poet’s ire was not in fact the Count but his captors, “I prefer to think of the verses as a magnificent orchestration intended to whip up hatred of the Pisans for killing Ugolino and trying to wipe out his family , too.”7 By framing the Count as victim, the imputations against him are minimized or forgotten, which should hardly come as a surprise when you stop to think of it; the Count has seduced others as well. Figure 2. “Torre Dei Gualandi: The ‘Other’ Tower of Pisa You Shouldn’t Miss.” ITALY Magazine. June 15, 2016. Accessed January 29, 2019...
Referência(s)