La Medusa decapitata: la donna nel racconto ecfrastico La ripetizione di Andrea Camilleri e nel quadro La Vucciria di Renato Guttuso

The main focus of this article is to find an image of the woman, provided by an ekphrastic work by Andrea Camilleri, La ripetizione, corresponding to a famous painting by Renato Guttuso, La Vucciria. The duality of the perception of the woman, in the rich and multi-millennial Sicilian culture, is reflected in the writer’s narrative through a clash of roles and an inversion of the positions commonly assigned to individuals by society. The analysis highlights the mutual exchange of glazes, defined by Laura Mulvey as “male” and “female,” and the installation within the framework of the observer reflected by the mirror, as proposed by Michel Foucault. The reflections of psychoanalysts, in particular Julia Kristeva and Melanie Klein, provide some explanations regarding the coexistence of the cult of the mother with the desire for matricide. According to these theories, the figure of the male child remains forever burdened by an inconsolable sense of guilt and frustration. Consequently, the male protagonists of Camilleri are tormented by a terror of and a disdain for the female body. In fact, their domination proves to be only illusory: the image of the woman is overwhelming and threatening like that of Trinacria, the mistress of Sicily. Finally, the male, fighting for his own identity, commits matricide and the Medusa is beheaded.