Saggi

Milano: A. Mondadori, 1952. 2a ed. 475 pages; 20 cm. Includes bibliographical references. An about near fine to near fine(-), faintly foxed copy with a mild crease to rear wrap and a small sticker 'scar' to front wrap. Appears unread. Binding is very tight; leaves clean. A very nice copy. Paperback.

In Italian. This posthumous collection gathers Luigi Pirandello's (1867–1936) critical and theoretical prose, edited by Manlio Lo Vecchio-Musti, the compiler of the first Pirandello bibliography (1937). At its core are the two volumes Pirandello published in 1908, Arte e scienza and L'umorismo. In them he set out his discontent with the critical methods and aesthetics then dominant, especially Benedetto Croce's. He also turned his scholarly opponents, Alessandro D'Ancona, Croce and Giorgio Arcoleo among them, into something like characters in his argument. L'umorismo is the theoretical key to his fiction and drama. It separates humour from the merely comic through the "sentimento del contrario" (feeling of the opposite), illustrated by the famous image of the overly made-up old woman. Epic and tragic art "compose" coherent heroes; humorous art "decomposes" them, exposing the conflict between life and form, person and mask. | Italian Literature