Celebrating Arianna Salomon’s Latest Scholarly Publication

Let’s congratulate our own Arianna Salomon, PhD student in Comparative Studies and GTA in Italian and world literature.

She has published an article entitled “The Siren Song: A Psychoanalytic Interpretation of Tarchetti’s Fosca ” in Italica 2025, vol. 102, issue 1, pp. 55–67.

Here's the abstract for the article:

This article analyzes the protagonist of Igino Ugo Tarchetti's Fosca(1869) through Freudian psychoanalytic terms as a Siren figure. Fosca's sweet voice and terrible screams are essential elements of her characterization; however, she had yet to be studied in this light. The similarities with the mythical figure of the Siren as described by Homer and Apollonius of Rhodes include the purported ugliness resulting from an external curse and the performativity of her exceptionality as a danger to the social order and the family structure. Fosca exists in the confinement of a liminal space and lures Giorgio into a metaphorical death, which is symbolized by his return to the womb. The deadly nature of the archetype of the Siren further contributes to Fosca's interpretation as Thanatos, an external representation of Giorgio's and the author's unconscious. Fosca's song, interpreted as the intellectual promise of self-knowledge, is unfortunately impossible to listen to.

This publication highlights Arianna’s insightful engagement with Italian literature and her ability to bring fresh, critical perspectives to well-established texts. Her psychoanalytic reading of Fosca contributes meaningfully to ongoing scholarly conversations and reflects the depth of her research in Comparative Studies.

We are proud to celebrate Arianna’s contributions to the field and look forward to her future scholarly achievements.