Portrait of Antigone as Idiot Savant: Elsa Morante’s <italic>La serata a Colono</italic>.

This work aims to shed light on Elsa Morante’s portrayal of Antigone in <italic>La serata a Colono</italic> (1968) and suggests that, behind Antigone’s apparent innocence and illiteracy, Morante develops the prototype of an idiot savant, which perfectly dialogues with María Zambrano’s conception of the idiot that the Spanish philosopher describes in <italic>España, sueño y verdad</italic> (1965). The present study contends that Zambrano’s work can be considered an exemplary source for Morante’s <italic>La serata a Colono</italic> and specifically for Antigone’s portrayal, since this character shares with Zambrano’s idiot several qualities. Despite Antigone’s ‘primitive’ and ‘barbarous’ mind, the idiot ‘ragazzina’ is able to grasp truths about reality which primarily rationalistic forms of knowledge are unable to comprehend. She can also see the world’s decline and offer effective alternatives to the conflicts of the twentieth century, such as pity and care for the other. Further evidence of Antigone’s special kind of idiocy can be found in her ungrammatical language, which is highly ‘performative’ and spoken by a subject who represents a new form of humanity. In endowing Antigone with such an idiom, I argue that Morante anticipates some tenets of Judith Butler’s interpretation of the Greek heroine, as presented in <italic>Antigone’s Claim</italic>. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]