La finzione autobiografica tra mistificazione e paradigma universale nel Secretum meum di Petrarca
Autobiographical Fiction: Between Mystification and the Universal Paradigm in Petrarch’s Secretum Meum

Summary/Abstract: Petrarch’s customary reliance on autobiographical themes serves as a guiding principle to nearly all of his works. The Secretum meum is perhaps his most autographical text. It is a treatise in the form of a dialogue in which the speakers, Francesco and Augustine, are characters alluding to Petrarch and St Augustine. The analogies between their respective itinera conversionis determine the strategies endorsing their paradigmatic dimension. In this article, I show that Petrarch uses his own individual case as a point of departure to embark on general discourse; that the Augustinian conflict between ‘the inner man’ and ‘the outer man’ serves as the framework for the construction of the dialogue; and that the story of Francesco’s moral crisis and his attempts to surmount it assume a universal meaning. I also discuss Petrarch as a master of mystification, brilliant at conjuring up an image of himself and cultivating his autobiographical myth built up of a blend of fact and fiction. From the very outset, the reader is up against an instance of unintended internal mystification: Augustine accuses Francesco of unwitting self-deception regarding his deplorable moral condition. By the end of the Secretum, Francesco manages to renounce his weaknesses, recovers his selfcontrol, and resolves to lead a life of virtue. However, Augustine is not at all sure whether his therapeutic methods have indeed worked. Perhaps writing will be the best remedy.

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