Laura Scuriatti publishes article on secrets and secret codes in literature in La Lettura

Laura Scuriatti's article “Tutti i segreti dei codici segreti" (All the Secrets of the Secret Codes) on secret languages and codes in literature from the nineteenth century to the present day was published in La Lettura per ragazze e ragazzi, the literary supplement for young adults of Corriere della Sera. It offers a brief survey of the ways in which authors have drawn on existing secret languages and cryptographic codes to create stories of mystery and adventure.

The article focuses on short stories and novels by Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Jules Verne, Robert Louis Stevenson and Umberto Eco, among others, and explores the variety of secret codes, enigmas and languages which populate the narratives of mystery and the adventures. Scuriatti shows that these operations of deciphering and decoding mirror a scientific approach to the understanding of daily life, but also rely on existing secret languages and codes (often extremely funny, purposefully confusing and self-ironic) used by criminal and marginalized groups.

The article was published in the print edition of La Lettura on May 21, 2023.

Laura Scuriatti is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Bard College Berlin.

 

Post Date: 06-13-2023