Leopardi, Madame de Stael, Chateaubriand: lexical study on the term silence

The aim of this study is to observe the semantic values of the word silence in three authors: Giacomo Leopardi, Madame de Stael and Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand. In particular, the focus is on the oscillation of the meaning of the word between an euphoric and a dysphoric sense. This comparative perspective allows us to see if and how it is possible to talk about intertextual references and shows to what extent Leopardi thought of the two French authors while writing his Zibaldone and other works, such as his unfinshed (and not well-known) autobiography Vita abbozzata di Silvio Sarno.