A curious fixation (more Croce)

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"Curiosa fissazione, quella di Vittorio Alfieri, del linguaggio tragico. Come se il tragico, che è relazione d'avvenimenti e di carrettieri, dovesse necessariamente dimostrarsi nel periodare e nel suono dei discorsi dei personaggi; come se Desdemona, che pure parla così dolcemente, non fosse personaggio tragico per eccellenza!" -- Pensieri sull'arte (1885), IV

A curious fixation, that of Vittorio Alfieri, with tragic language. As though the tragic, which is a relationship of action and of character, must necessarily be manifest in the phrasing and the sound of the characters' discourse; as though Desdemona, who talks so sweetly, was not the tragic character par excellence!

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