The memory of the Enlightened Neapolitan Domenico Cirillo. From the republican cult of the martyrs of the 19th century to the novel Sombra y Revolución (2018) by José Vicente Quirante Rives

Abstract

After the decline of the ephemeral Neapolitan Republic of 1799, Domenico Cirillo (1739-1799), a widely-known Neapolitan botanist, physician and eventual member of the Republican government was executed for his political activism. In the course of the 19th century, several historiographical and literary works adopted Cirillo’s biography for the vision of a unified Italian state by remembering him as a republican and national martyr. After reconstructing his “canonization” as a martyr for national memory, this paper will complement the 19th century perspective on Cirillo by introducing a new novel about the Neapolitan scientist: Sombra y Revolución. Variaciones sobre el naturalista Domenico Cirillo (2018) by José Vicente Quirante Rives. Quirante’s novel will be interpreted as a critical revision of 19th century’s literature about Cirillo.