Laments from the South

Mario Banushi, Emma Dante and Ernesto De Martino

Abstract

In 1960, Cecilia Mangini adapted Ernesto De Martino’s Morte e pianto rituale nel mondo antico (1960) to the screen in the film Stendalì – Suonano ancora. Documenting a funeral rite and its laments in Southern Apulia, Mangini engaged with the same practices described by De Martino. Today, theatre similarly engages with Southern European funeral rites, as exemplified by Emma Dante’s Vita mia (2004) in Italy and Mario Banushi’s Goodbye, Lindita (2023) in Greece. The article investigates the mourning rituals staged by Dante and Banushi, arguing that they follow the footsteps of the laments described by De Martino and documented by Mangini. In particular, the article analyses on the characters’ gestures, their non-linguistic and linguistic laments, paying special attention to the use of Palermitan dialect in Dante’s case and to Albanian in Banushi’s play. Ultimately, the article contends that the two directors adopt De Martino’s analyses not just in the depiction of mourning rituals, but also in the promotion of subaltern Southern cultures.