Abstract
This paper examines the place held by Luigi Pirandello in a tradition of Italian writers whose work is rooted in the island of Sicily and who see the world through the intense refracted light of the Italian south. It follows the connections between Pirandello and Brancati and Pirandello and Verga, and it emphasises the common features and points of concurrence in the works of the three authors.
The principal works analysed in this paper are the novels I vecchi e i giovani (The Old and the Young, 1913), L'esclusa (The Excluded Woman, 1908), Il fu Mattia Pascal (The Late Mattia Pascal, 1904), the comedies Il berretto a sonagli (Cap and Bells, dialect version, 1917), La patente (The Licence, 1918), and L'uomo, la bestia e la virtù (Man, Beast and Virtue, 1919), and the short stories 'Richiamo all'obbligo' (A Call to Duty, 1906), 'Certi obblighi' (Certain Duties, 1912), and 'La verita' (The Truth, 1912). Most of these texts deal, in a highly original way, with the subjects of infidelity and honour, which in terms of Sicilian society could be regarded as a cliché.
This paper identifies three basic aspects of the relationship between an individual and society at large, each of which can be found in all three authors. These are: (i) scandal, (ii) the exclusion of an individual, and (iii) the accommodation of societal norms.
In some cases, this accommodation can appear more like rebellion; it depends which of the three chords (the social, the serious, or the foolish) is being struck. Furthermore, Pirandello shows that the nature of this differentiation is a matter of convention - seriousness can be perceived as folly, and folly, equally, can become the socially acceptable norm.