L’ermeneutica ‘protestante’ di Guido Paduano

Abstract

Although he never produced a theoretical summa of his own literary hermeneutics,Guido Paduano developed over the years a consistent methodof textual interpretation, displayed in a vast and diverse corpus of literarycriticism. In this paper, I aim to set Paduano’s literary criticism in itscultural context, and to point out the principles of literary hermeneuticsit consistently, although implicitly, rests upon. It can be shown that Paduano’scloseness to the text’s propositional meaning is a reflection of hisidea of literary signification, which ultimately depends on the reader’sdirect, independent relationship with the text. In this respect, I try to highlightthe pivotal role played by character analysis in all of Paduano’s literaryreadings, which also makes it possible to reconsider Paduano’s debtto Francesco Orlando’s Freudian literary theory.