Strategie umoristiche pirandelliane: dalla narrazione al dramma

Paola Casella 2. Strategie umoristiche pirandelliane: dalla narrazione al dramma abstract Luigi Pirandello’s oeuvre is dominated, for the most part, by humour. This special view of the world is generated by the double perception of derision and compassion and triggers the suspension of any mono-faceted certainty. The main ploys used in Pirandello’s narrative texts to convey humour (the variable focus of the narrative voice, the poignant adjectives and grotesque details, together with the ‘open’ ending or the inclusion of commentary at the end) are not available within the communication patterns of the dramatic text and the theatre performance. The absence of the narrator’s humoristic mediation and the fact that the plays are enjoyed in real time require that the characters have more definite features which are immediately understand- able. Furthermore, the internal disquiet must become apparent in violent confrontations between the characters. The anomalous protagonists who are subjected to ridicule must reveal a humoristic awareness in explaining the agonizing reasons for their way of life. The eccentric events at the heart of the plays have to be developed in full and brought into a final confrontation, which not only emphasizes the intrinsic absurdity of the drama, but also violates the theatrical conventions of the time by denying the expectations of the audiences. In the transition from the written story to a plot acted on the stage, the humoristic deconstruction of the mono-perspective perception of the world becomes a violent clash of opposing points of view, which leaves the spectators alone...