Miglio, Chtonisches Italien: Ingeborg Bachmann und Ernesto De Martino

Abstract

This essay examines Bachmann’s Italian poems and press reports in the light of Ernesto de Martino’s anthropological works. Focusing in particular on the Lieder von einer Insel and on the poem In Apulien, it argues that the poetess took vital inspiration from the memory of ancient traditions and magical rituals deep-rooted in Southern Italian culture.