Abstract

Between late 17th and early 18th century, a considerable production of tragedies flourishes in Italy. This attempt to reintroduce to the Italian scenes a traditionally unsuccessful genre in the Italian literary tradition is characterized by slavish observance of Ancient Greek Theatre's model and of Aristotle's "Poetics". With the exception of Maffei's "Merope", the results of this attempt are usually rather successful, despite the theoretical and practical efforts of some important intellectuals and actors like Muratori, Gravina, Martello, etc. The successful and very fun Zaccaria Valaresso's "Rutzvanscad il giovine. Arcisopratragichissima Tragedia" (1724) is a satire of this new literary vogue and of its theoretical distortions. This article aims to analyze all the aspects of this satire: themes, plots, characters, language and style.