Shame and Desire: A Reading of Gozzano’s La Signorina Felicita

This reading of the poem La signorina Felicita analyzes the relationship between shame and desire as a privileged access to Gozzano’s poetry, and to the poetic culture of the early Twentieth century. The analysis of its themes and its literary genealogy (Jammes and Nerval in particular) – conducted from a formal and psychoanalytical perspective – leads to the identification of the conditions of coexistence between shame and desire.