Emersioni letterarie e testuali dell’isola Ferdinandea dall’Ottocento ad oggi. Un casus anche onomastico

Abstract

This article explores the historical and onomastic events surrounding the island commonly known as Ferdinandea (or Graham, Hotham, Nerita, Sciacca, Julia, Corrao), which emerged in the Mediterranean Sea in July 1831 as a result of a seismic phenomenon. The extraordinary nature of the event sparked such widespread interest that the island was referred to by various names, both real and invented, within several Italian and foreign works aligned with either a historical-realistic tradition or a more mythical-symbolic approach. While in French writings (Dumas, Flaubert, Verne) and coeval English technical reports (Scott) this geological phenomenon was regarded merely as a historical event worthy of being recorded due to its exceptional nature, for Sicilian writers (Pirandello, Camilleri, Bufalino, Russello, D’Arpa, Agnello Hornby, Mirabella), the event also served as a source of metaphorical and onomastic reflection. In more recent times, the island’s story has found its way into the graphic novel (Ferraris) and comic book (Bollée) genres, marking a gradual fading of its history and its names from collective memory.