D’Episcopo: Empathic Correlative

Empathic Avant-garde

by Francesco D’Episcopo (Federico II University of Naples)

In recent years, the Empathic Movement has been developing a complex project for the renewal of contemporary Italian arts and literature. The recent formulation of the “Empathic Correlative” fits into this framework, a concept that represents a significant evolution compared to T.S. Eliot‘s traditional Objective Correlative.

While Elio’s correlative is based on the identification of an object, a situation, or a sequence of images endowed with a symbolic value capable of arousing a specific emotion in the reader, Menotti Lerro’s empathic correlative shifts the focus from the objective to the relational level. It aims to generate a direct emotional connection between author, text, and reader, eliminating or reducing the mediation of the external object. The aesthetic effect no longer derives from the arrangement of concrete elements, but from the creation of a shared emotional resonance, the fruit of a process of identification and participation.

The Empathic Correlative is thus configured as a poetic device oriented towards emotional attunement, in which images, words, or micro-situations are chosen not so much for their representative function, but for their ability to activate an empathic communicative circuit. This results in a more intimate, dialogic, and relational approach, in stark contrast to the seemingly impersonal and objectifying stance of Eliot’s correlative.

This theoretical proposal is part of the broader conceptual framework initiated by the Empathic Movement, which includes among its innovations: the adoption of verses free of capital letters deemed redundant; the distinction between Empathic Art and Narcissistic Art; and the conceptual transition from the traditional “lyrical self” to the “porous self,” a figure that emphasizes permeability, openness, and connection.

In light of these premises, Empathism can be classified as one of the most incisive avant-gardes of the new millennium, capable of proposing a redefinition of the expressive and communicative paradigms of contemporary art, with an echo that is progressively extending beyond national borders.