Philippe Vilain, ’o francese : lecture socio-anthropologique de l’expérience napolitaine du passage du statut d’étranger à celui d’adopté

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to interpret the special place of Naples in Philippe Vilain’s work. In the light of socio-anthropological considerations on the significance of adoption in certain traditional Neapolitan practices, we will attempt to support the hypothesis that the transition from the status of foreign traveller to that of adopted Neapolitan constitutes the culmination of an original literary process that bases its autofictional device on the need to make what Vilain calls “the orphaned voice of the I” heard, and to go beyond it.