italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies
Dear list-members,
By way of celebrating Leopardi's 213th birthday today, I wonder if anyone can throw light on the following. On p. 4206 of the Zibaldone, he writes:
" Questa novelletta [...] mi fa credere che i greci antichi inventassero degli esempi di ridicola e bestiale costanza da apporre agli spartani, come noi ne inventiamo di bêtise e di sciocchezza da apporre ai tedeschi e agli svizzeri (addietro tu e muro); come altri ne inventano di scelleraggine vile, feroce, traditrice e coperta, da apporre agl'italiani, ec....".
Stigmatizing foreigners is a constant across periods and cultures is his point, and often takes identical forms. But what is he getting at with the parenthesis? "addietro tu e muro": does it mean anything linguistically? is it an allusion to some story/play/song/saying etc etc of the time? is it a joke about the way Germans/Swiss talk Italian, and if so - forgive my bêtise - what's the joke? or do we have to conclude that it's some kind of irrecoverable private throw-away (the Zibaldone is a private diary, of course, but Leopardi is not in the habit of throwing away)?
Previous editors of the Zibaldone have skirted delicately around this riddle. Can anyone help crack it this time?
With many thanks,
Michael Caesar
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