L’«anima» e la «macchina». Foscolo e le ambiguità del Sentimental Journey

The essay focuses on Foscolo’s translation of Sterne’s Sentimental Journey (1812-1813), examining, in particular, the places where the confrontation with materialist anthropology comes to the fore. Starting from two well-known passages of Sterne’s novel centred on the relationship between soul and body (Chapters II and LXIII), on the one hand we intend to show how in his version Foscolo consciously keeps intact the unresolved ambiguity that marks the profession of spiritualism pronounced by the character of Yorick. On the other hand, we aim to focus on the points of contact and divergence between Sterne and Foscolo (especially in Ultime lettere di Jacopo Ortis) with regard to other problematic nodes of materialism, such as free will, the natural goodness of man, the role of instinct and the passions.