The Resurrection of the Body The Resurrection of the Body Pier Paolo Pasolini from Saint Paul to Sade ARMANDO MAGGI TheUniversityofChicagoPress ChicagoandLondon ARMANDO MAGGIisprofessorintheDepartmentofRomance LanguagesandLiteraturesattheUniversityofChicago.Heisthe authorofseveralbooks,including,mostrecently,IntheCompanyof Demons:UnnaturalBeings,Love,andIdentityintheItalianRenaissance, alsopublishedbytheUniversityofChicagoPress. TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Chicago60637 TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Ltd.,London ©2009byTheUniversityofChicago Allrightsreserved.Published2009 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica 1615141312111009 12345 ISBN-13:978-0-226-50134-5(cloth) ISBN-10:0-226-50134-5(cloth) LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Maggi,Armando. Theresurrectionofthebody:PierPaoloPasolinifromSaintPaulto Sade/ArmandoMaggi. p. cm. lncludesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN-13:978-0-226-50134-5(cloth:alk.paper) ISBN-10:0-226-50134-5(cloth:alk.paper) 1.Pasolini,PierPaolo, 1922–1975—Criticismandinterpretation. I.Title. PN1998.3.P367M34 2009 858(cid:2).91409—dc 2008028193 (cid:4)∞Thepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirements oftheAmericanNationalStandardforInformationSciences— PermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibraryMaterials,ANSIZ39.48-1992. Contents Acknowledgments vii INTRODUCTION Sodom,ItsInhabitants,andIts LanguageinPasolini’sFinalWorks 1 1 ABodyofNostalgia:Pasolini’sSelf-Portraitinthe FilmProjectSaintPaul 21 2 TheJourneytoSodomandGomorrahandBeyond: TheScenarioPorn-Theo-Colossal 107 3 “ADilutedReelofFilminMyBrain”:ToPreach aNew“WordofAbjuration”inPetrolio 157 4 ToGiveBirthinSalo` andSade’sThe120Days ofSodom 256 CONCLUSION “ASchizophrenicChildIsaTinyDot, IDreamedOnce”:MetamorphosisinMarioMieli andPasolini 339 Appendix:ABasicBiography 355 Notes 363 Bibliography 393 Index 405 Acknowledgments My most sincere thanks to the friends who have read and commentedonpartsofthemanuscript:RebeccaWestand MichaelSyrimis.Mikerescuedmefromatragicbutnotseri- ouserror.WritingonSignoraMaggi’stalesonthejoyofco- prophiliainSalo`,Imistakenlyattributedallherembarrass- ingstatementstoanotherofthefourstorytellers,probably because subconsciously I could not accept that a member ofmywell-respectedfamilycouldsaythosedirtythings. Iwouldliketoexpressmygratitudetothosecolleagues and friends who provided me with relevant bibliographi- cal references: Paul Lachance, Christopher Lane, Rebecca Arellano,andVictoriaGayleTillson. AspecialthankstomystudentNicholasMcMaster,who tookmyPasoliniclassthefirsttimeIoffereditattheUni- versityofChicago,andtoallthestudentsofmymostrecent Pasolini seminar (academic year 2006–7). It was an unfor- gettableclass,atleastforme. DouglasMitchell,senioracquisitioneditorattheUniver- sityofChicagoPress,believedinthisnewprojectofmine, eventhoughitdifferedfrommypreviousbooks.Myheart- feltthankstohimandtoTimothyMcGovern,Doug’skind andencouragingassistant. vii INTRODUCTION Sodom, Its Inhabitants, and Its Language in Pasolini’s Final Works Intheheydayofgayandlesbianstudies,JonathanGoldberg edited an important collection of essays, entitled Reclaim- ing Sodom (Routledge, 1994), that loosely revolved around the theme of sodomy. The reference to Sodom as a place that needs to be revisited and appropriated—the original placethatwitnessedthebirthofaparadoxicalpracticethat negatesbirth—wasaddressedin RockyO’Donovan’sshort piecebythesametitle,“ReclaimingSodom.”Gaywomen,O’- Donovanwrites,haveLesbos,an“actualspacewhichtheycan dreamofandre-createandhopetoward.”1Unlikelesbians, gaymendonothavea“space/timetoclaimas[their]own.” One day, O’Donovan continues, he had a sudden insight. He realized that he should consider himself a “Sodomite- American.”O’Donovancontendsthat,asAfricaisamythic birthplace for many black people in the United States, so Sodomisthelandofgayness,theplacetowhichgayiden- titymustreturntogetintouchwithitsroots.LikeAfrica, Sodomisatonceaplaceofthepastandautopianlandof the future, a land where gay identity creates and recreates itself.“Iwantto(re)claimSodomforourown,”O’Donovan contends,“soIspeakanewmyth.”2Butitisworthremem- beringthatSodomisaburnt-downplace,alandscapeofde- solation.ToreclaimSodommeanstovisitadesertofashes. 1