“Fortune-Tellers”: Palmistry Scenes in Modern Age Between Printed Books and Performing Art

  • Antonia Liberto University of Florence
DOI: https://doi.org/10.6093/sigma.v0i4.7504
Keywords: gypsy, fortune telling, Commedia dell’Arte, printed books

Abstract

In modern age, gypsies populate city squares as the pages of printed books, becoming symbolic and allegorical characters thanks to their magical and exotic charm.
This paper aims to reconstruct the dramaturgical fortune of the gypsy through a selection of palmistry scenes. Fortune telling is the subject of a vast literature: treatises on vagabonds and charlatans, expulsion notices, scholarly literature and Commedia dell’Arte scenarios.

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Author Biography

Antonia Liberto, University of Florence

Antonia Liberto is a second-year PhD student in theatre history at the University of Florence (Italy). Her research project is about gypsy women in 16th-17th centuries theatre (tutor Prof. Teresa Megale). She graduated with a thesis about critical edition of Giulio Cesare Cortese’s mock-heroic poem Vaiasseide. She continued her studies as a De Vito Foundation fellow, studying iconography of gypsies in Naples in 17th century.  Since 2014 has been writing about theatre to a range of publications, including the online magazine Drammaturgia.

Published
2020-12-21
How to Cite
LibertoA. (2020). “Fortune-Tellers”: Palmistry Scenes in Modern Age Between Printed Books and Performing Art. SigMa - Rivista Di Letterature Comparate, Teatro E Arti Dello Spettacolo, (4), 699-719. https://doi.org/10.6093/sigma.v0i4.7504
Issue
No 4 (2020): The representation of the Cold war in literature and the arts (1947-1989)
Section
Varia

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