Academic literature on the topic 'Pirandello, Luigi, 1867-1936 - Criticism and interpretation -'

This MA thesis is a comparative study of the novels of Luigi Pirandello (Agrigento 1867--Rome 1936) and Max Frisch (Zurich 1911--1991). Six texts are discussed: Pirandello's Il fu Mattia Pascal (1904), Quaderni di Serafino Gubbio operatore (1915), and Uno, nessuno e centomila (1925--6); and Frisch's Stiller (1954), Homo faber (1957), and Mein Name sei Gantenbein (1964). The comparison highlights the great similarities between Pirandello's and Frisch's treatment of the theme of identity as well as some important (and mainly structural) differences in their novelistic works. The analysis of the three pairs of novels shows the developments in narrative structure and the characteristic change of attitude towards the question of identity construction that took place from early-modernism to postmodernism.

This thesis proposes that a defining feature of Pirandello???s 1921 play ??? Six Characters in Search of an Author, is a relentless transcendentalism. It argues that the play embodies a fascination with existential and conceptual ???occult???, and my hypothesis is that by exploring Pirandello's transcendentalism we may enhance our understanding of how and why Pirandello's play points a mirror up to the invisible and suggests that we could be a reflection of that. Pirandello's drama alludes to some of the most convoluted and enduring debates in western philosophy. However, there is very little English-language material on Pirandello???s relation to philosophy or the relevance of analytical philosophy, metaphysics or epistemology to Pirandello???s playwriting. Even foreign-language studies focus on existentialism, phenomenology and other Continental traditions of philosophy. My contribution is to craft a subjective response to Six Characters in accordance with the methods of analytical philosophy, making use of paradigms and techniques that stem from aesthetics and metaphysics to elucidate a complex self-reflexive play. Chapter One presents analytical philosophy as a potential interpretative framework for the play, whereas chapters two and three explore the metacharacters specifically. This thesis does not seek to offer conclusive assertions about the peculiar ontological status of Pirandello???s metacharacters, rather, it introduces some frameworks and conceptual tools for better approaching their ontolo

D'Annunzio e Pirandello come uomini e come artisti si pongono agli antipodi della scena culturale del loro tempo, eppure e nel mito, inteso come categoria psichica oltre che artistica, che la loro antitetica opera trova un punto d'incontro. In questo studio si analizza, dunque, il mito nelle tre tragedie dannunziane in cui l'elemento mitico si manifesta nel modo piu palese (La citta morta, La figlia di Iorio e Fedra) e nella trilogia dei miti pirandelliana, summa e approdo finale di tutta la sua opera. Per entrambi la necessita di mito nasce dalla sofferta consapevolezza della crisi moderna: valori relativi, personalita atemporale scissa, e fuori nessun dello l'aspirazione alla totalita. sen so spazio di direzione. del mito e Nella ancora dimensione possibile La teoria junghiana degli archetipi dell'inconscio collettivo, di cui i miti sarebbero le manifestazioni culturali, si e rivelata un importante ausilio analitico che consente, tramite uno scavo in profondita oltre le scorze e le sovrastrutture culturali e storiche, di cogliere la sapiente orditura di immagini e motivi archetipici nelle opere, confermando l'idea dell'artista anche come uomo collettivo oltre che come individuo. In tale prospettiva il confronto tra le opere ha portato ad importanti conclusioni, che non solo chiariscono la loro opera di scrittori, ma anche la loro funzione all'interno della societa in cui sono vissuti e, per esteso, della nostra. Per entrambi recuperare il mito e ridargli una veste moderna, pur nei rispettivi distinti modi, significa essenzialmente cercare di superare il relativo, la frammentarieta e la mediocrita del mondo contemporaneo. Nel processo di recupero, tuttavia, il mito stesso viene modificato e, facendosi specchio della condizione psichica moderna, non solo ne interpreta le piu profonde istanze, ma giunge anche a precorrerne quelle future. La posizione centrale nelle opere dei due scrittori dell'inconscio, il grande rimosso dell'Io raziocinante moderno, emergente nella possente figura della Grande Madre primordiale, rivela la direzione della futura coscienza umana nella necessita di riaccedere alle fonti piu profonde della psiche da cui nasca l'incontro e la fusione degli opposti, inconscio e coscienza, l'elemento ctonio, fertile e generatore, e quello uranico, spirituale e trascendente.
D'Annunzio and Pirandello both as men and as artists can only be placed at the opposite ends of the cultural scene of their times. Yet, it is in myth that their antithetical works finally converge. This study, therefore, analyzes myth in three of D'Annunzio's tragedies where the mythical dimension is more apparent (The dead city, Iorio/s daughter and Fedra) and in the trilogy of myths by Pirandello, which brings his work to its ultimate expression. For both authors the need for myth is born of the painful awareness of modern man's crisis: relative values, a divided personality and no sense of direction. In the timeless and universal dimension of myth it is still possible to achieve totality. The Junghian theory of the archetypes of the collective unconscious, of which myths are cultural manifestations, has proved to be an analytical tool of great importance. By giving access to the deepest level of the texts beyond their cultural and historical layers, it brings to light the otherwise elusive meaning of archetypal images and motives, revealing the true nature of art to be not just the work of an individual but also of collective man. The works, different as they may be, when compared in this perspective have nevertheless yielded some important common conclusions, not only on D'Annunzio and Pirandello as writers but also on their role within the society they lived in and, by extension, our own. For both of them myth, even in a modern context, means essentially the overcoming of the fragmentation, the relativity and the mediocrity of contemporary life. However, in the process of recapturing this mythical dimension, myth itself is bound to be modified. Because it mirrors the modern psyche, it not only interprets its deepest present needs, but also points to its future ones. The central position occupied in their works by the subconscious, emerging from behind the powerful image of the primordial Great Mother, points the way to future psychological development and to the need to regain access to the deepest levels of the human psyche so that its opposing forces, subconscious and consciousness, can meet and be reconciled.
Classics & Modern European Languages
D. Litt. et Phil. (Italian)