Cartoline dal paradiso : drogue, invasion et autodestruction chez Elsa Morante
Marie Fabre
Cahiers d’Études Italiennes February 10, 2026 DOI: 10.4000/cei.14383 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | The works of Elsa Morante, specifically "Il mondo salvato dai ragazzini" |
| Topics | LSD |
| Keywords | Body Drug and literature Elsa morante |
| Key points | Argues that the drug-leitmotif in Morante's "La commedia chimica" articulates physical sensations of LSD and mescaline through Rimbaldian and Beat cultural encoding, reflecting the mind/body ambivalences in her later novels. |
Abstract
The importance of drugs as a theme in the second half of Elsa Morante’s work is rarely emphasized. Beginning with the author’s existential and political turn in the 1960s, a decade that saw her experiment with a series of sedatives and psychedelics, drugs and addiction become omnipresent in the lives of some of the key characters in her novels and short stories. This article focuses on the drug-leitmotif’s appearance in the second part of Il mondo salvato dai ragazzini (1968). In this section, aptly named La commedia chimica, the physical sensations of an intimate experience of LSD and mescaline—the letters of both are hidden within the texts—are articulated through cultural encoding: through Rimbaldian memory, containing Beat reminiscences. The poems presented here allow us to reflect on the difficult mind/body relationships in Morante’s work, offering access to the themes and insoluble ambivalences structuring her last two novels, La storia and Aracoeli.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on LSD, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Experimental Use of Psychedelic (LSD) Psychotherapy | 1970 | Historical analysis | |
| LSD: My Problem Child | 1981 | Historical analysis | |
| On the Use and Abuse of LSD | 1968 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Use of Music in Psychedelic (LSD) Psychotherapy | 1972 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Flashbacks: Recurrent Intrusive Images After the Use of LSD | 1969 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |