Mysterious apparitions in the land of darkness : the Influence of Conrad in Buzzati 's short fiction

Abstract

The existence of an intertextual relationship between Dino Buzzati and Joseph Conrad has been pointed out by scholars since the 1970s, even though in many cases they did not go beyond a cursory acknowledgement of similarities in the works of the two authors. For example, Antonia Arslan just lists Conrad's Lord Jim among Buzzati's juvenile readings which might have left their imprint in his creative mind. Marcello Carlino makes rather unconvincing associations between Buzzati and other writers, one of whom is Conrad:

Di Conrad si utilizzano, a scartamento ridotto, parvenze di immagini e climi di sospensione, denotati da un ambiguo rapporto tra personaggi, personaggio e ambiente; ma, per quanto attiene alle innovazioni stilistiche dell'esule polacco, al gergo e al disporsi allucinato del linguaggio, nessuna traccia si conserva nella scrittura di Buzzati.