The Resurrection of the Body: Pier Paolo Pasolini from Saint Paul to Sade

420 Pages·2009·0.52 MB·English

by  Armando Maggi

The Resurrection
of the Body

The Resurrection
of the Body
Pier Paolo Pasolini from
Saint Paul to Sade
ARMANDO MAGGI
TheUniversityofChicagoPress ChicagoandLondon
ARMANDO MAGGIisprofessorintheDepartmentofRomance
LanguagesandLiteraturesattheUniversityofChicago.Heisthe
authorofseveralbooks,including,mostrecently,IntheCompanyof
Demons:UnnaturalBeings,Love,andIdentityintheItalianRenaissance,
alsopublishedbytheUniversityofChicagoPress.
TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Chicago60637
TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Ltd.,London
©2009byTheUniversityofChicago
Allrightsreserved.Published2009
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
1615141312111009 12345
ISBN-13:978-0-226-50134-5(cloth)
ISBN-10:0-226-50134-5(cloth)
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Maggi,Armando.
Theresurrectionofthebody:PierPaoloPasolinifromSaintPaulto
Sade/ArmandoMaggi.
p. cm.
lncludesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN-13:978-0-226-50134-5(cloth:alk.paper)
ISBN-10:0-226-50134-5(cloth:alk.paper) 1.Pasolini,PierPaolo,
1922–1975—Criticismandinterpretation. I.Title.
PN1998.3.P367M34 2009
858(cid:2).91409—dc
2008028193
(cid:4)∞Thepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirements
oftheAmericanNationalStandardforInformationSciences—
PermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibraryMaterials,ANSIZ39.48-1992.
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
INTRODUCTION Sodom,ItsInhabitants,andIts
LanguageinPasolini’sFinalWorks 1
1 ABodyofNostalgia:Pasolini’sSelf-Portraitinthe
FilmProjectSaintPaul 21
2 TheJourneytoSodomandGomorrahandBeyond:
TheScenarioPorn-Theo-Colossal 107
3 “ADilutedReelofFilminMyBrain”:ToPreach
aNew“WordofAbjuration”inPetrolio 157
4 ToGiveBirthinSalo` andSade’sThe120Days
ofSodom 256
CONCLUSION “ASchizophrenicChildIsaTinyDot,
IDreamedOnce”:MetamorphosisinMarioMieli
andPasolini 339
Appendix:ABasicBiography 355
Notes 363
Bibliography 393
Index 405

Acknowledgments
My most sincere thanks to the friends who have read and
commentedonpartsofthemanuscript:RebeccaWestand
MichaelSyrimis.Mikerescuedmefromatragicbutnotseri-
ouserror.WritingonSignoraMaggi’stalesonthejoyofco-
prophiliainSalo`,Imistakenlyattributedallherembarrass-
ingstatementstoanotherofthefourstorytellers,probably
because subconsciously I could not accept that a member
ofmywell-respectedfamilycouldsaythosedirtythings.
Iwouldliketoexpressmygratitudetothosecolleagues
and friends who provided me with relevant bibliographi-
cal references: Paul Lachance, Christopher Lane, Rebecca
Arellano,andVictoriaGayleTillson.
AspecialthankstomystudentNicholasMcMaster,who
tookmyPasoliniclassthefirsttimeIoffereditattheUni-
versityofChicago,andtoallthestudentsofmymostrecent
Pasolini seminar (academic year 2006–7). It was an unfor-
gettableclass,atleastforme.
DouglasMitchell,senioracquisitioneditorattheUniver-
sityofChicagoPress,believedinthisnewprojectofmine,
eventhoughitdifferedfrommypreviousbooks.Myheart-
feltthankstohimandtoTimothyMcGovern,Doug’skind
andencouragingassistant.
vii

INTRODUCTION
Sodom, Its Inhabitants,
and Its Language in
Pasolini’s Final Works
Intheheydayofgayandlesbianstudies,JonathanGoldberg
edited an important collection of essays, entitled Reclaim-
ing Sodom (Routledge, 1994), that loosely revolved around
the theme of sodomy. The reference to Sodom as a place
that needs to be revisited and appropriated—the original
placethatwitnessedthebirthofaparadoxicalpracticethat
negatesbirth—wasaddressedin RockyO’Donovan’sshort
piecebythesametitle,“ReclaimingSodom.”Gaywomen,O’-
Donovanwrites,haveLesbos,an“actualspacewhichtheycan
dreamofandre-createandhopetoward.”1Unlikelesbians,
gaymendonothavea“space/timetoclaimas[their]own.”
One day, O’Donovan continues, he had a sudden insight.
He realized that he should consider himself a “Sodomite-
American.”O’Donovancontendsthat,asAfricaisamythic
birthplace for many black people in the United States, so
Sodomisthelandofgayness,theplacetowhichgayiden-
titymustreturntogetintouchwithitsroots.LikeAfrica,
Sodomisatonceaplaceofthepastandautopianlandof
the future, a land where gay identity creates and recreates
itself.“Iwantto(re)claimSodomforourown,”O’Donovan
contends,“soIspeakanewmyth.”2Butitisworthremem-
beringthatSodomisaburnt-downplace,alandscapeofde-
solation.ToreclaimSodommeanstovisitadesertofashes.
1