Quando la scrittura interroga le immagini. Il caso de I volatili del Beato Angelico di Antonio Tabucchi

Focused on the collection of short stories I volatili del Beato Angelico (1987), the proposed investigation examines the visual intertextuality of Antonio Tabucchi’s fiction to highlight both its self-reflective vocation and philosophical underpinnings. Through the case study method, it offers a close reading of the eponymous tale that opens the collection, conceived as a metaphor of the entire book and also of the author’s iconic poetics, which finds an explanation in the light of the most recent contributions to Visual Studies. Considering the central role played in the tale by pictorial references and suggestions, and the ways in which the narration addresses the visual data, it is argued that the world of the evoked images does not so much support the purpose of providing answers to the indeterminacy of the narrative as to broaden and revive the questions raised by it.