36.974, Confs: XXVIII International Conference of Onomastics & Literature (Italy)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-974. Wed Mar 19 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.974, Confs: XXVIII International Conference of Onomastics & Literature (Italy)

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Date: 19-Mar-2025
From: Luisa Caiazzo [luisa.caiazzo at unibas.it]
Subject: XXVIII International Conference of Onomastics & Literature


XXVIII International Conference of Onomastics & Literature
Short Title: O&L
Theme: Names in Literary Works

Date: 24-Sep-2025 - 26-Sep-2025
Location: Potenza, Italy
Contact: Donatella Bremer
Contact Email: donatella.bremer at unipi.it
Meeting URL:
https://oel.fileli.unipi.it/storico-dei-convegni/cfp-2020-english-version/

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics; General Linguistics;
Lexicography; Ling & Literature
Subject Language(s): English (eng)
                     French (fra)
                     German (deu)
                     Italian (ita)

Submission Deadline: 30-Jun-2025

The conference will be held in the Aula Magna of the Francioso Campus
and in the Hall of the National Archaeological Museum of Basilicata
Dinu Adamesteanu, Potenza.
The Conference will focus on the following topics:
The names of ‘villains’ (antagonists and negative characters).
The relevance of the names of literary ‘villains’ and/or ‘antagonists’
is already evident when we consider a peculiar linguistic phenomenon:
many of them have become so famous that they have turned into
antonomasies, or even lexicalized into deonyms. Among those attested
in the lexical heritage of Italian and its dialects, one could think,
for example, of ‘Ganelon / Gano di Maganza,’ which has become
synonymous with ‘traitor’ (alongside ‘giuda’), also appearing with the
epithet ‘(treacherous) Maganzese.’ Beyond this, other purely literary
cases can be listed within the same domain, which have already been
studied by critics, such as the names of the devils Malebranche in
Dante’s Divine Comedy and those of the Shakespearean theatrical
characters Macbeth, Shylock, Iago, or the Molière character Tartuffe.
may be counted in the same sphere.
The name in autobiographical writings
In autobiography, understood as a literary form, there is an onomastic
identity between the author, narrator, and protagonist, which refers
to the same entity. The enunciation of the name of the
author-narrator-protagonist, therefore, constitutes a key element for
reading, capable of guiding the reader’s interpretative cooperation
and the process of meaning-making within the work. However, the
enunciation of the nominal identity of the one who takes the floor
rarely appears within the text, while it is often displayed in the
paratext. The narrator who designates himself with a first-person
pronoun, therefore, does not have a name, and yet, as Roland Barthes
emphasizes, that pronoun, in the narrative,
becomes an anthroponym, unless the narrator leaves some onomastic
trace within the text. Equally significant are the procedures that
affect the names of other characters involved in autobiographical
writings, which may, for example, be subject to various kinds of
omissions, because they are hidden by anonymity or disguised through
substitute names. The same ambivalent attitude may also involve the
names of the places where the action is set. Therefore, this section
could include all investigations aimed at detecting and revealing the
often unsuspected autobiographical resonances hidden behind the
onomastics of a text.
Anthropological foundations of the name: taboo, apotropaic or magical
names
It is well known that in Le Conte du Graal by Chrétien de Troyes, the
reader (and the character who bears the name) comes to know the
protagonist’s name only at a very advanced stage of the poem: the
revelation assumes an initiatory value, reaching the peak of a
difficult process of self-knowledge. The Kretienian ‘taboo of the
name’ is certainly not the only example where a literary name seems to
regain the magical and apotropaic significance, with complex
anthropological meanings, traces of which were widespread and profound
in primitive onomastics, and which also characterized the prohibition
of pronouncing the divine Tetragrammaton in Jewish tradition. However,
in this section, which could also be titled, playing on Freud’s words,
Nomen and tabù, one could certainly include other well-known cases
seen from different perspectives, such as that of the Erinyes, often
referred to by the apotropaic name Eumenides (as in Aeschylus’s
tragedy or in the title of the famous novel by Jonathan Littell, Les
Bienveillantes, which mirrors the same mythological model of the
persecution of Orestes by the Erinyes); or famous literary examples,
such as the case of the figure of the Innominato in Manzoni’s novel,
struck by a sort of nterdiction that evokes the previously mentioned
prohibition of pronouncing the divine name.
Cases of autonymy: when a character assigns themselves a name, a
nickname, or a pseudonym
Among the cases in which a literary character is compelled, for
various reasons, to re-name themselves, the first examples that come
to mind are certainly classic ones, such as Alonso Quijano /Don
Quixote, Jekyll / Hyde, or, in twentieth-century Italian literature,
Mattia Pascal / driano Meis. Beyond this specific corpus, however,
other forms of autonymy can be found, even if seemingly less striking,
such as those of the Decameron characters, who assume different
onomastic forms from their official names during various disguises:
from Tebaldo degli Elisei / Filippo di San Lodeccio to Lodovico /
Anichino, or, with a change of gender, Madonna Zinevra / Sicuran da
Finale. To mention a twentieth-century example, one can think of the
programmatic battle names that partisans give themselves in post-World
War II stories. But other types can also be suggested. One involves
the author themselves when they, to some extent, take on a substitute
name, either to hide or, conversely, to showcase a particular
authorial stance. One thinks of the kaleidoscopic array of heteronyms
by Pessoa, but also more unsuspected cases, such as that of Luzi, who
in some collections hints at himself under real names and profiles
like Simone Martini. Also, in the realm of authorial posture, one can
cite the self-deprecating, diminutive autonyms, with a
programmatically self-ironic and reductive intent, such as
‘guidogozzano’.
Submerged Lucanità: Onomastic Explorations from Rocco Scotellaro to
Gaetano Cappelli
The occasion of the conference in Potenza offers numerous onomastic
insights not only for the general ‘anniversary section’ but also for
the more specific literary production of Lucanian authors. This year,
in particular, marks the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Carlo
Levi, whose Christ Stopped at Eboli (it is needless to emphasize its
significance in the history of Basilicata) reveals a complex
relationship between reality and invention, particularly within the
onomastic fiction. Additionally, the onomastic choices of Lucanian
poets and writers, which draw from the reality of the so-called
peasant civilization, are still underexplored but certainly worth
investigating. These include Rocco Scotellaro, author of Contadini del
Sud and Uva Puttanella (but also his poetic works where names from
high tradition notably appear), or more recently, Mario Trufelli —
whose L’Ombra di Barone (the dog of Carlo Levi) presents a “journey
between the ancient and the modern, between Lucania and Basilicata,”
and his autobiographical novel Quando i Galli si Davano la Voce — as
well as authors who assert the right to step out of the “border,” such
as the Potenza-born Gaetano Cappelli, who, in his postmodern novels,
used names and nicknames that spark curiosity as they clearly underpin
a strategy to link the characters to the spiritus loci.
Those wishing to attend the Conference or submit an article to the
editorial team of the journal «il Nome nel testo» are kindly asked to
send an abstract, not generic but sufficiently indicative (about one
page), of their contribution to Donatella Bremer
(donatella.bremer at unipi.it) by June 30, 2025, at the latest.
Please also attach a short curriculum vitae.
The length of articles to be submitted for peer review for potential
publication in the journal «il Nome nel testo» should not exceed
36,000 characters (spaces included).
On September 27, a visit will be organized to the Sassi of Matera,
which were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993. The
detailed program of the visit and the registration procedures will be
provided to interested participants.



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