«Una continuazione di Zeno»: il Vecchione o il Vegliardo? Con due lettere inedite del carteggio Svevo-Crémieux

Abstract

Some interesting letters by Italo Svevo have come to light in the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville of Paris. In addition to two previously unpublished letters addressed to the French critic Benjamin Crémieux dated 8 March and 31 May 1926, there is a letter dated 16 May 1928 which has already been published but requires further attention. In this letter, Svevo states that he has begun a “continuazione di Zeno” [a sequel to Zeno]. In the version of the document contained in Bruno Maier’s edition, the name that appears as the title of the “fourth novel” is Vecchione. However, an examination of the autograph copy of the letter in the Parisian library reveals that Svevo spoke of his latest artistic enterprise using the term Vegliardo, in line with the indications contained in other correspondence. This would thus seem to exclude the existence of an alternative title - a topic that has been the subject of various reflections and interpretations over time - as suggested by Maier in his edition.