The narrative work of well-known Italian author Italo Calvino (1923-1985) features a phenomenon that literary critics refer to as “dubitative text”: this stylistic device consciously hinders the narrative progression of a story, by questioning its own content. We report on an attempt to model the presence of dubitative text in Calvino's 昀椀ctional oeuvre and examine whether this model can also be used to retrieve dubitative instances in his essayistic oeuvre. We hypothesize that precisely the category of the dubitative text yields interesting points of intersection between both writing modes. We 昀椀ne-tuned a BERT model based on a manually annotated dataset and report inter-annotator scores. We situate our 昀椀ndings and model criticism in the current landscape of Calvino scholarship. While detecting dubitative text is challenging, our model provides fresh insights into the device's surface features.
The project looks at the manifestation of the phenomenon in 昀椀ction only, without considering
his essays production. Nevertheless, it is important to underline that Calvino, responding to a
trend of the time, is leaning over the course of his career towards hybrid forms that mix the
techniques of both his 昀椀ctional and essayistic writing (e.g. [
The dubitative phenomenon belongs to the 昀椀ctional universe, yet it might have its roots within the essays, or vice versa it may have been able to propagate into non昀椀ction writing: however, it seems clear to us that a link exists. This research intends to explore the nature of this link and aims to assess what stylistic and structural components the dubitative text might have in common with the non昀椀ction genre. To investigate this hypothesis, we 昀椀ne-tuned a BERT model to automatically detect the presence of dubitative text in a cross-genre setting. A昀琀erwards we annotated a representative sample of texts in both genres for dubitativity (§2.2.)
One of the de昀椀ning characteristics of the dubitative phenomenon is that a昀ects “the main progression of thestory” (§2.1.). The genre of the essay possesses a mobile de昀椀nition in the various critical traditions, which, however, has some constants: in particular, this form of discourse «is based on the implicit prescription not to invent a 昀椀ctional world to convey re昀氀ections on the world» 3[1, p. 152][own translation]. Consequently, trying to analyze the essays using the category of the dubitative text might seem like a stretch. However, we created a validation set of essays by collecting dubitative occurrences as if they were 昀椀ctional texts, with two speci昀椀c purposes: (a) 昀椀eld-testing the eventual limits of the dubitative category; (b) having a reference point for more thoughtful evaluation of the model results.
Instead of focusing on model performance, our aim was to derive interpretative insights into the dubitative text in both genres, in order to deepen our understanding as to which stylistic or structural elements are associated with this phenomenon.
The dubitative text is a category of analysis which draws inspiration on multiple linguistic and narrative dimensions of a text. It is a challenging notion to operationalize in a formal annotation framework4[5]. We set up an annotation process with the ultimate aim of training a machine learning model that can automatically detect its presence in an unseen text. We focus speci昀椀cally on a stylistic conceptualization of this label in the sense proposed by Herrmann who argue that «style is a property of texts constituted by an ensemble of formal features which can be observed quantitatively or qualitatively2»5[, p. 44]. 4«Scholars such as Thomas Pavel have recognized in the mixture of narrative and non昀椀ction meditation a decisive character of the modern and contemporary novel (think of Marcel Proust, Thomas Mann, Robert Musil, Jorge Luis Borges, and, among more recent examples, Thomas Bernhard, Milan Kundera, or Enrique Vila-Mat1a9s),» [ p. VII][own translation]4[0].
To consider a string of text as dubitative, we require that the progression of the story (or a cohesive section of it) must be based on the deconstruction of its content. The dubitative text is therefore characterized by the following linguistic features: • expressions of epistemic modality4[2, pp. 54-61]; • discourse connectives related to the argumentative genr3e0[]; • punctuation marks (parentheses, dashes, question marks, ellipsis);
These features serve as useful surface cues in a text to 昀氀ag any dubitative occurrences in Calvino’s writings. However, these characteristics in isolation do not automatically entail the presence of dubitativity – the 昀椀rst condition regarding the deconstruction of the narrative progress must still be met. Let us take an example.
UN-DUBITATIVE «piccole increspature che si propagavano sott’acqua: forse il battere di coda d’un pesce, forse un bambino che riempiva un secchiello su una riva» [small ripples that propagated underwater: perhaps the tapping of a fish's tail, perhaps a child filling a bucket on a shore] [own translation] Com’era grande il mare, 1948
DUBITATIVE «Una bestia si mosse in fondo a un cespo d’eriche: forse una lepre, forse una volpe, forse un tedesco coricato tra gli arbusti che lo prendeva di mira » [An animal moved at the back of a bush of heather; perhaps it was a hare, perhaps a fox, perhaps a German lying in the thickets keeping him covered]
Paura sul sentiero, 1946
The stylistic form adopted in the two passages is almost identical. A movement whose origins are unknown is described («piccole increspature», «una bestia si mosse»), and three hypotheses introduced by as many adverbs of doubt («forse») are presented. The di昀erence between these two extremely similar texts lies in the way the respective plots are developed. Com’era grande il mare is a short story about a couple ascending a headland on a scorching summer day, who, blinded by the sun and mugginess, cannot always see clearl1y1,[p. 855]. Paura sul sentiero narrates the nighttime crossing of a forest by a partisan dispatcher: darkness, sleep and fear generate a deeply doubting attitude toward what surrounds the partisan, thus making the progression of the narration coincide with a concatenation of uncertainti9e,sp[. 250]. While in the case of the 昀椀rst short story we are dealing with a circumscribed visual di昀케culty, in the second the thematization of doubt is the pivot around which the narrative revolves. Determining which text can be considered dubitative is an intersubjective, interpretative act that needs a case-by-case inspection during a manual annotation process.
Two annotators have independently annotated a representative sample of text to be able to
assess the feasibility of this annotation task. Each was asked to analyze a di昀erent set of texts,
selecting the parts considered as dubitativ5e.Their work was subsequently compared to the
group of annotations linked to the corresponding texts in the dubitative text dataset derived
from the Atlante Calvino project (§3.1.). Annotator A was in charge of the two related novels
Il castello dei destini incrociati and La taverna dei destini incrociati. Annotator B analyzed the
collectionPalomar. We decided to apply Cohen’s Kappa 1[4] [
Annotator A obtained a score of 0.54 and Annotator B of 0.50. The di昀케culty of the task is illustrated by the weak agreement observe6dW.e were therefore aware from the outset that we had to manage our expectations regarding the performance of the automated model, deciding to «exploi[t] disagreement between crowd workers as a signal, rather than try to eliminate it» [2, p. 23].7
Dubitative text is an elusive category that presents classi昀椀cation problems. We tried to
understand what could be the causes of such a low score, analyzing the discrepancies: (a) within
an area considered unanimously dubitative, the boundaries of occurrences are not always clear
(cf. Fig. 2); (b) it seems to us that annotations diverge when confronted with sentences with
a strong semantic component of uncertainty but without clear stylistic markers (Fcifg.. 3).
Both of these problems later resurfaced in the results of the model, studying the false positives
and the false negatives (§6.).
5To further explore the units of analysis used in content analys2i7s,[pp. 97-110].
6As reference points for evaluating the scores obtaine3d2[
annotation number 1 start/end of annotation
ANNOTATOR A
ANNOTATION ATLANTE A ben vedere, tanto per l’alchimista quanto per il cavaliere errante
1 1
The annotated training dataset was obtained from the Atlante Calvino project. It is composed of almost 5,000 occurrences of dubitative text, derived from the 昀椀ctional work published when Calvino was alive (205 short stories and 10 novels). Occurrences vary in length, including groups of words, sentences, or even whole paragrap8hs.
Calvino produced numerous essays and articles throughout his career, about 400 of which constitute the two volumes edited by Mario Barengh1i2[]. Nevertheless, we limited our study to the three volumes set up by the author himself as coherent ensembleUs:na pietra sopra. Discorsi di letteratura e società, published in 1980 and containing 42 essays written between 1955 and 1978; Collezione di sabbia, published in 1984 and containing 23 essays written between 1980 and 1984; Lezioni americane. Sei proposte per il prossimo millennio, published posthumously in 1988, which collects 5 lectures that the author should have given at Harvard University in 1985-1986 as part of the Charles Eliot Norton Poetry Lectures. The volumes were purchased in electronic format and automatically converted to plain text.
We set up two validation sets for the model validation: one consisting of 昀椀ctional writings (and thus closer to the training material) and one consisting of essays (and thus closer to the target domain for our model) (§5.).
Five di昀erent short stories were selected ensuring that they were distributed chronologically across the entire time span of Calvino’s career and with a variable presence of the dubitative phenomenon. Ten essays were selected following the same guidelines. 8The occurrences have been collected, using the guidelines mentioned above (§2.1.). For an accurate description of the structure of the dataset cf. DOUBT – DATASET 2 inhttps://atlantecalvino.unige.ch/capta?lang=enThe dataset will be available once the PhD of its author, Margherita Parigini, is completed. Instead, the corpus data from which the IDs and collateral information were derived for this paper are accessibl4e9c]f.. [ title
We 昀椀ne-tuned a Transformer BERT to detect the presence of the dubitative text adopting a
NER approach. BERT, which means Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers
[
During preprocessing, an important initial choice related to the relative proportion of
dubitative text presented to the model in comparison to the un-dubitative text; our corpus statistics
suggest a serious class imbalance – the proportion of dubitative text has an average occurrence
of only 20%. During training, we therefore arti昀椀cially varied the relative proportion of
dubitative text fed to the model as a hyperparameter46[
(a) To determine the size of the context, we calculated the average number of words in relation to the total number of words in occurrences in the dataset, which correspond to 22; (b) We randomly extracted sentences from the 昀椀ctional corpus, looking at the mean and variance of the distribution of dubitative occurrences in the dataset, for a total of 5000 sentences. We also took into account the possible overlap with dubitative occurrences and we made sure to avoid it; UN-DUBITATIVE TEXT
DUBITATIVE TEXT Da Felice i sei occupavano il banco del bar da una parte all’altra, con tutti quei SENTENCE pantaloni bianchi e quei gomiti appoggiati al marmo che sembrava fossero in dodici.
LEFT CONTEXT fsoirmseosusnea i nle pforen,dofoarseununcaesvpoolpde’e,rfiocrhsee: Tag IN: B-DOUBT OCCURRENCE un tedesco coricato tra gli arbusti che lo I-DOUBT
prendeva di mira. C’era un tedesco per RIGHT CONTEXT ogni cespuglio, un + +
Stavano appollaiati lassù da alcuni mesi, SENTENCE confidando nel clima mite, in un prossimo decreto d’amnistia di Carlos III e nella provvidenza divina.
Tag OUT: O Tag OUT: O
To structure the 昀椀les needed to 昀椀ne-tune the BERT model, we interspersed a non-dubitative sentence before and a昀琀er each group of tokens formed by context and occurrence.
Next, we were careful to stratify the data to form a training set and a test set, adopting the proportions 80% and 20%, respectively, without shu昀툀ing the tokens.
Our model was developed through numerous iterations to determine the optimal
(hyper)parameters on the validation data, also in the light of the prior literature on the topic (e.g.
[
The BERT Lang Street platform3[
As soon as we manipulated the internal distribution of the data, moving away from the values established at the outset, the model went into over昀椀tting.
M
We then took the trained model with the best score so far and we decided to change the training score from the traditional F1 to precision score, so that the model selected during 昀椀netuning would be as reliable as possible. In fact, our goal at this stage of the research was to obtain su昀케ciently accurate results to be able to interpret the model selection processes.
To analyze the results we decided to select the three models with the best scores in the 昀椀netuning phase, namely Model1 (M1), Model2 (M2) and Model3 (M3). We wanted to take an experimental approach, going beyond the numerical results that would lead us to choose a single model. We wanted to see if, by combining the di昀erent results, we could learn more about the dubitative text and how it was decoded.
At 昀椀rst, we noticed a correlation between the density rati9o[
We also observed a general decrease of the scores once the models were applied to the essays.10 Rather than being alarming, this 昀椀nding allowed us to better understand a fundamental 10This could be explained with the literary genre of the training data: the dubitative text is a phenomenon that takes place in the narrative corpus; there is therefore a mismatch between the material used to train the models aspect of the phenomenon which we have already had occasion to mention (§3.3.): the models numerically con昀椀rmed the di昀케culty in transporting this category into a realm other than 椀昀ction. However, our goal was not to verify the existence of the dubitative text in essays, but to explore the possible connections between the phenomenon and essayistic expression. An initial numerical data con昀椀rms the high compatibility between these two stylistic modes: in fact, we can easily notice an increase in the percentage of essay text recognized as dubitative compared to 昀椀ctional text.
low <10% medium <19% hight 20%> titles E006 E011 E019 E038 E044 E046 E070 E072 E078 E082
VALIDATION SET: ESSAY Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 18% 26% 16% 20% 31% 21% 16% 23% 13% 30% 21% 13% 21% 25% 13% 18% 23% 6% 11% 10% 11% 21% 19% 17% 15% 36% 17% 16% 21% 14%
All models react with more greediness once they are applied to essays, recognizing a strong presence of the phenomenon. This 昀椀rst 昀椀nding brought us to guess the existence of a point of contact between the category of the dubitative text and the essay genre. The essay is a text with a reasoning framework that attempts to approximate reality, weighing certain aspects of it [19, p. VII]. It is a «genre of inquiries and questions», «intimately doubtful2»1,[ p. 186, 197][own translation]. These characteristics are highly compatible with our de昀椀nition of the dubitative phenomenon. Yet the essay, however hybrid and 昀氀uctuating in nature, belongs to the 椀昀eld of argumentation. Applying the model trained to recognize the dubitative text to essays allowed us to verify the presence of certain argumentative techniques that 昀椀lter into narrative production, redirecting the development of the sto1r1y.
Dobson states that «determining the meaning of textual data requires both computational knowledge that can determine signi昀椀cance within the model and domain-speci昀椀c contextual knowledge that can be applied to the understanding of these features1»7[]. A昀琀er evaluating the numerical performance of the models, we then made a second reading, studying the concrete results. A careful analysis of the errors made, both on the narrative and essay validation sets, allowed us: • to verify the presence in the non昀椀ction genre of certain stylistic features related to the phenomenon; and the type of text on which the models are applied. This apparent discrepancy is part of the experience, as our goal is precisely to use the models to understand which are stylistic features related to the argumentative genre may be reused by the dubitative text. 11The mix between non昀椀ction and 昀椀ction, though not through the prism of the dubitative text, has been reported in the 昀椀eld of Calvinian studies particularly with regardLtoa giornata di uno scrutatore (1963), «a kind of novel-essay, suspended between testimony and re昀氀ection»[3, p. 56][own translation]. • to identify stylistic and argumentative predispositions that open up new research directions.
A manual inspection of the models’ output indicated that certain surface features provided strong cues to the models to 昀氀ag text as dubitative (cf. Appendix): (A.1) the presence of punctuation marks; (A.2) sentences with keywords related to modality. Additionally, a closer scrutiny of the false positives allowed us to identify two additional dubitativity markers which we named respectively cerebrality and 昀椀gurality: • (A.3) Cerebrality: verbs related with a brain activity suchpaesnsare [to think] andsapere [to know]; • (A.4) Figurality: verbsparere [to seem], guardare [to look, to watch],vedere [to see] and adverbcome [like];
The 昀椀rst aspect (A.3) suggests an intellectual distance between the narrated object and the act of writing. From the essay, the dubitative text assimilates the reasoning attitude. The essay is marked by a strong «experimental element», a type of «prose as a means of relating to the world» 1[9, p. VII][own translation]. The dubitative text thus seems to insert a 昀椀rst and foremost conceptual frontier into the narrative, anchoring the development of 昀椀ction to a re昀氀exive logic. Narrative strategies are then hybridized to argumentative strategies based on approximation to eventual truth.
Regarding the second aspect (A.4), the role of the visual dimension has particular relevance
for Calvino 4[]. Thus, it is not surprising that the tendency to associate narrative objects based
on a 昀椀gurative logic would emerge in his work. However, it is interesting that this same logic
is associated with the dubitative phenomenon, moreover in an essayistic dimension: the
author uses comparison, metaphor, and analogy as conceptual bridg12esT. here is no unanimous
agreement on the role that rhetorical 昀椀gures should play in argumentation, because their
presence does not correspond to the need for clarity associated with the genre: metaphor, for
example, «is both true and false, guilty of ambiguity and categorical erro4r3»][o[wn
translation][
In the current research landscape of the Digital Humanities the debate resonates around the proper weight of the interpretive act of the researcher and, implicitly related, the role of1e3rror. Da negatively judges the way that for CLS «misclassi昀椀cations become object of interest, imprecisions become theory»1[5, p. 602]. But one would have to wonder how error is perceived in the more traditional humanistic sphere. Literary criticism is not based on the revelation of absolute evidence, but on the demonstration of a point of view: «the 昀椀eld of argumentation is that of the plausible, the probable, insofar as the latter escapes the certainties of calculation» [41, p. 3][own translation].
The perspective in which this research 昀椀ts does just what Da argues should not be done: we did not think of the «statistical tools» relying on their so-called «true functio1n5s,»p[p. 619620]. Rather, «from a humanist perspective, we might want to think of data models created from textual sources as alternative representations of supplie1d7»].[
The trained model BERT was a way of viewing a research problem of literary criticism in an innovative way. In this sense we tried, following Dobson’s suggestion, a «making computational work interpretable»17[]. Through this experience, we learned that the point of contact between the dubitative mechanism, belonging to the universe of 昀椀ction, and the non昀椀ction genre is the latter’s peculiarity of possessing the «lens of a double visio2n1», [p. 196][own translation]1.4 This characteristic of Calvino’s non昀椀ction is translated into the two characteristics: 昀椀gurality on the one hand and cerebrality on the other.
«The assumption of the essay is that the reader is reading things that are true, perhaps paradoxical and provocative, but all the more so as they should be taken literally and be understood in a dimension of reality. The assumption of the novel, on the other hand, is that, however veraciously taken from reality, the things being read are to be understood on a plane of 昀椀ction23»,[ pp. 20-21][own translation]. The relationship between 昀椀ction and reality is thus put under tension by a technique such as the dubitative text, which applies certain essayistic features within 13We 昀椀nd the attention to this issue that has emerged in recent CoP linked to some prestigious publication venues particularly representativeW:orking on and with Categories for Text Analysis: Challenges and Findings from and for Digital Humanities Practicefsor DHQ;Reproducibility and Explainability in Digital Humanitfioers IJDH. Even among the topics of interest in the call for CHR22, two inherent items appeared: “development of empirical methods for humanities research” and “modeling bias, uncertainty, and con昀氀icting interpretation in the humanities”. 14«The essayist in e昀ect contemplates the gaze of others, thus his is a refracted gaze [...] he does not bend to the evidence of things, he questions it, he subjects it to veri昀椀cation, that is, he looks at it from a foreshortened, unusual and oblique point of view»2[1, p. 196][own translation]. a 昀椀ctional universe: this phenomenon implicitly prompts us to consider what is said within the 昀椀ction as a truth to be proved. The dubitative text deceives the reader that a 昀椀ctional truth can be reached by approximation, by adding and subtracting pieces of the di昀erent versions of a single story that multiplies before our eyes through doubt.
Through analysis of the results, we were able to see the strengths and weaknesses of the various models. By cross-referencing the three models with each other, it is possible to derive a new one in turn that could be more accurate in identifying dubitative occurrences. Once created, this synthesis will be applied to the totality of the essays to study where the two features of 椀昀gurality and cerebrality appear and how they behave. At the same time, an analysis will be conducted on the totality of argumentative connectives in the essays, leaning on the work of [20], to understand which discourse relations are transported to the 昀椀ctional domain by the dubitative text.
Therea昀琀er, it is our intention to conduct new training by creating subsets of the starting dataset based on the structural types of the occurrences: in fact, one of the major di昀케culties when 昀椀ne-tuning the models is related to the occurrences’ uneven length. Our hope is that by re昀椀ning the type of analysis, the model can improve its performance. Furthermore, in analyzing false negatives, we realized that some features seem particularly di昀케cult to identify: (B.1) negations; (B.2) questions; (B.3) alternatives; (B.4) sentences that rephrase something stated earlier if taken in context, but once isolated possess no clear dubitative markers (cf. Appendix). We hope that the creation of training subsets in the dataset, based on the structural types of occurrences, can help us resolve these impasses in categorization.
We 昀椀rst thank Paavo Van der Eecken (University of Antwerp) for following this research project from the very beginning, sharing his views on various conceptual junctures, and suggesting ingenious technical solutions. We are grateful to Valeria Cavalloro (Università per Stranieri di Siena) and Virginia Giustetto (Université de Genève) for their contribution as annotators. We lastly thank Emilien Schultz (Université de Paris) and Simon Gabay (Université de Genève) for constructive exchanges. [6] S. Bozzola and C. D. CaprioF.orme e 昀椀gure della saggistica di Calvino . Roma: Salerno Editrice, 2021.
Selection of examples to illustrate di昀erent types of false positives: S159: “(A pagarla anche a suono d’unità a peso d’oro […] inevitabi)l”e;.S90: “Che cosa avviene […] mondo?” (M2); S101: “- una faccia […] faccia -” (M2); S142: “cosa intendo?” (M1, M2), “perché intanto […] la polpa-” (M1, M3, M2), “- impercettibilmente o smisuratamente diversa -” (M1), “- nella scelta che Priscilla fa di me” (M2); E006: “Ma a cosa ci porta il nostro continuo nervoso sfogliare giornali freschi d’inchios?t”ro(M1, M2, M3), “Quale situazione migliore per avere un’idea complessiva del mond?o” (M1, M3); E011: “(questa suggestione […] in po)i” (M1, M2, M3), “(almeno all’immaginazion)e” (M1, M2, M3), “(non rare quando una coscienza empirica e spontanea matura prima di una coscienza ri昀氀essa e organizzat)a” (M2, M3); E038: “Il poeta(«la man che ci movea»)” (M1), “E l’arte?” (M1, M2, M3); E046: “(Popper dovrebbe esser contento)” (M1, M2), “(vera)” (M1, M2), “(A Venezia nel Seicento il Vestri disegna una carta delle correnti che ora le prospezioni via satellite compiute per determinare l’inquinamento della Laguna confermano punto per punt)o” (M1), “(E’ interessante […] senza precedent)i” (M1, M2, M3), “(cioè da 1 a 86.400)” (M1, M2).
S007: “o tornare con la risposta” (M1),q“uasi con uno sciacquio” (M1), “forse già al Carmo” (M1, M2, M3), “ma più si scava […] sottile” (M2), “Ma era anche il suo compito […] per il 椀昀eno” (M3), “ eppure riconosceva il sentiero, le pietre, gli alberi, il muschio” (M3); S1o59a: “ metà” (M1), “o pensato” (M1), “o sentire” (M1), “oppure uno smorzato […] operazione” (M3), “o ancora […] del buio” (M3); S190: o“ per meglio […] a lui” (M3),o“ autolesionista” (M3); S101: “quasi femminei” (M1), “ma quando poi […] fortemente” (M2), o“ troppo in frettao troppo piano, senza libertà di movimenti, Amilcare doveva seguire la correonrteisalirla a fatica” (M1, M2, M3); S142: “cioè che di momento in momento io non sono più lo stesso io e Priscilla non è più la stessa Priscilla” (M1, M2, M3),m“ a forse sollevarlo non […] complicate” (M1, M3), “cioè per via di quel che si dice” (M1, M3); E011: c“ioè a ribadire le proprie catene” (M1, M3), “quasi diremmo extrastorica, catastro昀椀ca” (M1, M2, M3), “ma anzi forse con la possibilità di capovolgere il rapporto tra i due termini” (M1, M2, M3a)n,z“i fa aggravare 昀椀no all’esplosione naturale” (M1, M2, M3); E019: “Ma questo non è che il primo gradino della grammatica e della sintassi narrativa;” (M2, M3); E044:o“una mescolanza cangiante di rosso bianco nero grigio che sull’etichetta porta un nome ancor più policromo” (M1, M2, Mf3o),rs“e in mezzo al deserto” (M1, M2, M3), E“ppure, chi ha avuto la costanza di portare avanti per anni questa raccolta sapeva quel che faceva, sapeva dove voleva arrivare” (M1, M2, M3).
S007: “Ma Binda orapensava […] sotterranei” (M1, M2); S159: “non so” (M2), “opensato come in un delirio” (M2); S190: “Allorpaensa: «Se io vedo e penso e nuoto […] raggi” (M1), “A ben pensarci, una tale situazione non è nuova:” (M2, M3); S142: E019: “Vediamo di tentare un ragionamento opposto a quello che ho svolto 昀椀nora: questo è sempre il sistema migliore per non restar prigioniero nella spirale dei proppernisieri” (M1); E038: “Talvolta iopenso e immagino che tra gli uomini esiste una sola arte e scienza, e che questa sia il disegnare” (M1, M2, M3); E082: “Se pensiamo che questa perorazione per una vera fraternità universale è stata scritta quasi centocinquant’anni prima della Rivoluzione francese, vediamo come la lentezza della coscienza umana a uscire dal suo parochialism antropocentrico può essere annullata in un istante dall’invenzione poetica” (M1, M2, M3), “al contrarpioenso che la razionalità più profonda implicita in ogni operazione letteraria vada cercata nelle necessità antropologiche a cui essa corrisponde.” (M1, M2, M3), “p(enso naturalmente agli a昀ascinanti studi di Francis Yates sulla 昀椀loso昀椀a occulta del Rinascimento e sui suoi echi nella letteratura)” (M2, M3).
S007: “A voltepareva a Binda…” (M1); “come una scimmia aggrappata al collo” (M2)co“me enormi ragni sotterranei” (M1, M2); S159:c“ome in trance” (M2, M3) “come un’altra parte di me stesso cui corrispondono altre funzioni” (M2), “o pensactoome in un delirio” (M2),c“ome un’altra parte di me stesso cui corrispondono altre funzioni” (Mc2o),m“e un organo della mia persona” (M2); S101: “adesso magari faceva istintivamente per guardarle, ma subito gli pareva che scorressero viacome un vento, senza dargli nessuna sensazione, e allora abbassava indi昀erente le palpebre” (M3), “adesso il poterle vedere […] non più soltanto pglaireva un vederle ma già addirittura un possederle’” (M2c)o,m“e se fosse la faccia tipica d’una categoria di persone a lui estranea” (M2),c“ome un rimorso” (M2), E006: c“ome un limbo innocente e funereo” (M2), “come se fossero stati rosi all’interno dalle termiti, appena gli s’avvicina la mano non ne resta che polvere” (M2), “ma ormai, anche su questo terrenpoa,re che non possa più crescere erba fresca” (M2, M3), E038: “Anziché il mondcoome oggetto rappresentabile dall’arte e l’artceome rappresentazione del mondo, ci si apre un nuovo orizzonte in cui il mondo vissuto è vistocome opera d’arte e l’arte propriamente detctaome arte al secondo grado” (M1, M2, M3), “La lineacome segno del movimento,come godimento del movimento, come paradosso del movimento” (M1), E082: “Non mpiare una forzatura connettere questa funzione sciamanica e stregonesca documentata dall’etnologia e dal folklore con l’immaginario letterario;” (M1, M3), “anzi, la leggerezza pensosa può far apparire la frivolceozmzae pesante e opaca.” (M2, M3), “una fuga di immagini, che ècome un campionario delle bellezze del mondo” (M2).
Selection of examples to illustrate di昀erent types of false negatives:
S007: “non d’agrifoglio”,n“on con acqua e rane”, “E arrivandonon avrebbe…”; S159: “non è perché mi sia rimasto da dirti qualcosa d’indispensabilen”,é“è la nostra intimità interrotta al momento della partenza che sono impaziente di ristabilire”; S190: “Tutto questo avvinenoen sul mare,non nel sole, – pensa il nuotatore Palomar”, “il snoolen tramonta, il marenon ha quel colore, le forme sono quelle che la luce proietta nella retina”; S1N01o:n“(li metteva sempre […] lontano)”, “non c’era dubbio […] diverso”, “Manon per i cambiamenti”, “ma un margine di dubbio chenon fosse colui che credeva restava sempre”, “ma se veniva in qua adessno,on poteva esser lei che aveva fatto tutto il giro”; S142: “Andando avanti vedremo cnhoen c’è niente di fatto apposta, che nessuno ha messo lì niente”, “quindnion si sa quanti io ci siano a monte dell’io che credo di essere io, e quante Priscilla a monte della Priscilla verso la quale io sto credendo di stare correndo”
S159: “Sarà stato già tradotto in comandi ai selettori […] centrali di tran?s”i;toS190: “«E quello il solo dato non illusorio, comune a tutti, il?b»usiiodomanda il signor Palomar”, “dove 椀昀nirebbe la spada ?”, “Un principio unico e assoluto da cui prendono origine gli atti e le fo?r”;me S101: “Possibile che non l’avesse riconosciu?to”, “Ma com’era possibile scambiare Isa Maria per Gigina?” S007: “o l’avrebbe sentito a un rotolar di pietre che si metteva al suo 昀椀anco, a camminare assieme a lui in silenzio.”; S159:o“ppure rivelarsi inaspettatamente attiva senz’aver dato prima alcun segno di vita”, o“ quale altra città sia la tua”; S190: “depressivooautolesionista”; S101: o“ sono tutto”, “o non possono essere più niente”, o“ li si segue giorno per giorno”o, p“pure non si riesce più a entrarci”, “se era stato visto no”; S142: “alla specieo all’ambienteo a noi due”, “o già vicini una volta per tutte”, “fusioneo[mescolanza]o scambio”, “l’addensarsi in sciami di cellule-semoi il concentrato maturare di cellule-uova”, “’impercettibilmeontsemisuratamente,”, “o è avvenuto o avverrà”
S007: “Tanti lumi diversi, potevano essere, in marcia per tutti i sentieri di Tumena bassa”, “era il 昀椀schio convenuto dei tedeschi che serravano intorno a lui, ecco che un altro 昀椀schio gli rispondeva, era circondato!”; S190: ”«È un omaggio speciale che il sole fa a me personalmente», è tentato di pensare il signor Palomar”, “«Tutti quelli che hanno occhi vedono il ri昀氀esso che li segue; l’illusione dei sensi e della mente ci tiene sempre tutti prigionieri»”, “«E quello il solo dato non illusorio, comune a tutti, il buio?» si domanda il signor Palomar”, “Tutto questo avviene non sul mare, non nel sole, – pensa il nuotatore Palomar”; S142: “il nostro patrimonio genetico, tra virgolette”, “E dicendo forma intendo tanto quella che si vede quanto quella che non si vede”, “il rapporto tra i soli elementi di昀erenziali, perché quelli comuni si possono trascurare da una parte e dall’altra”, “e allora bisogna vedere se si tratta di quelli comuni”, “la somma dei caratteri dominanti del passato, il risultato d’una serie d’operazioni che davano sempre un numero maggiore di zero”, “Tutto quel che possiamo dire è che in certi punti e momenti quell’intervallo di vuoto che è la nostra presenza individuale viene s昀椀orata dall’onda che continua a rinnovare le combinazioni di molecole”