WHAT IS DIOGENES’ DOG BARKING ABOUT? THE AUTHOR’S REPRESENTATION IN BAROQUE WRITINGS

Abstract

The article examines the image of the author and his representation in the Italian baroque satire Diogenes’ Dog [ Il cane di Diogene ] by F. F. Frugoni. In the introduction, the critic explains the plotline, the effect and purpose of the satire, describing the dog’s literary image. The writer’s desire for fair representation of himself and his book is believed to indicate the tendency for self-reflection, so typical of the Baroque era. Frugoni composes a veritable encyclopaedia of human vice and other topics. Drawing generously on the cynic tradition, the author assumes the persona of the dog named Saetta and proceeds to fight evil in his canine disguise. Saetta embodies all the main characteristics of a true cynic: in his criticism of avarice, he resembles the priest of the Horapollo’s Hieroglyphics and conforms to Plato’s idea of the dog being a philosophical animal. The author’s decision to speak from a dog’s viewpoint has philosophical and cultural significance. It indicates his implicit self-irony and determination, in full compliance with the Baroque tradition, to follow the mediation logic, enriching the narration with aspects of a conventionality, a game. The 17th century cultural principle of ‘all the world’s a stage’ requires that the author be disguised, assume a different persona, play a role.