The Naked Prompt A Semiotic Study of Pirande11o's Plays A thesis supervised by Anna Laura

426 Pages·2017·18.86 MB·English

The Naked Prompt
A Semiotic Study of Pirande11o's Plays
A thesis supervised by Anna Laura Lepschy and submitted at University
College, London, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PhD
by
Jennifer Stone
June 1982
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ABSTRACT
My study examines the nature of Pirandello's so-called "revolutionary"
drama and its links with the historical avant-garde. This involves
principally a discussion of the way Pirandello's work is influenced by
Cubism and Futurism. and there is a re-assessment of the critical tradi
tion regarding Pirandello.
I pay attention to theories of the stage in order to draw out the in
fluences of Pirandello's precursors and to discuss the problems of
modernist drama. The use of semiotic methodology. I argue, is justified
in terms of the specific metalinguistic and metatheatrical concerns of
both Pirandello's plays and his theoretical writings. In the Prologue,
I describe how his work is particularly suited to the deconstructive pro
cedures of psychoanalytic and post-structuralist literary theory: for
instance, his concepts of "azione parlata" and of "umorismo"; and his
use of theatrical repetition,·deferred action and acting out of an
"original" scenario.
In chapter I, I consider Pirandello in terms of the historical moment:
I investigate his relation to fascism and to the discourses of the avant
garde. 1 undertake a discussion of the position of women in the new in
dustrial society, by giving special attention to the way Pirandello deals
with lithe woman questionll [his essay, IIFeminismoll There is also an
].
effort to atcount for the consumption of his cultural artefacts in an ex
panding mass-society.
In chapter II, IIMirror-image/Collagell I examine Pirandello's renovation
,
of the naturalist stage. This discussion is set in the context of Cubist
and Futurist theory. By means of an intertextual analysis, I argue that
Pirandello's shift to the dramatic genre is determined by the crisis in
signification at the turn of the century: mimetic naturalism ;s inadequate
iii
to express Pirandello's complex perception of the problems of represen
tation in language and in the aesthetic sign. I demonstrate how the
linear strategies of narrative are temporarily relinquished for the con
tradictory simultaneities available to drama. I also anticipate how he
wi 11 1a ter restore "coherent" mythi c fabul ati on and retreat from the
subversive effects of his "revolutionary" phase.
In the subsequent chapters III and IV, I provide readings of the dramatic
texts and the performance texts respectively. By analysing the theories
of "l'azione parlata" and "parole in I show the discursive rup-
libert~",
tures Pirandello effects, and I assess the innovative aspects of his render
ing of female speech. I argue that dissidence, verbal lunacy, repetition
and sexual confession accompany silence and laughter in his texts, and
that his writing vacillates between danger and desire.
My interest in non-verbal means of communication leads, in chapter IV,
to my giving relief to the function of the performance, and in particular,
to the use of Futurist scenography. In order to produce a model of read
ing not limited to the playscript, this chapter involves a discussion of
the roles of the audience, disguise and landscape. I submit that the re
volutionary adventures of social fascism are eclipsed by the apocalyptic
visions in Pirandello's last oneiric texts.
Theatre semiotics thus allows me to establish the multiple workings be
tween the dramatic texts and the stage spectacles. It assists in account
ing for the web of meanings which bind audiences, authors, actors, direc-
.
tors, texts and readers.
In the Epilogue, I sum up my argument by suggesting an explanation for
Pirandello's enigmatic title to the collections of plays, Masohere nude.
The oxymoron, the "naked prompt" [a pun on Marinetti's It suggeritore
iv
nudol permits me to forward the idea that in effect superficial words
are all, and "free speech" but an illusion. This echoes Pirandello's
repeated stance that words cannot be stripped of irrelevant clothing,
or be made bare and transparent to "truth". A semiotic analysis re
veals that behind the plenitude of the social mask, there is nothing
but a mirroring void. Pirandello's plays are poised at this signal
edge of a catastrophic abyss.
For my parents
In tristitia in hiZaritate tristis.
hiZaris~
CONTENTS
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xi
Textual Note
Abbreviations
Prologue: Semiotic Analysis 1
i. A "Science" of Signs
ii. The PsychoanaZytic Process
iii. Theatre Semiotics
iv. A Note· on Discourse Theory
I. The Playwright in a Mass Society 24
1.1. Fascism and Revolution 24
1.2. Culture and Commerce 36
II. Mirror-image/Collage 56
11.1. A Shattered Mirror 56
11.2. The Cuba-Futurist Palimpsest 62
Il.3. From Narrative to Drama 81
II. 3 • a. Sei personaggi in cerca d r autore: Modernism 84
and the Death of the Author
II. s.b. PirandeZZo'8 BeZfagor: MachiaveZZi Revisited 95
I I I. Playscripts: A Wilderness of Words 115
IILL "L'azione parlata" 115
II1.2. "Parole in libertl" 126
II1.3. Gender and Speech 136
III. S.a. Feminist ForepZay 136
III. 3.b. A Geography Of PZeasure 140
viii
IV. Spectacles: The Visual Illustration 212
IV.l. Futurist Scenography 212
IV.2. Disguise and Identity 243
IV.3. Dreamscapes: From Adventure to Apocalypse 262
Epilogue: The Naked Prompt 299
Appendix: Beyond Desire - A critique of Susan Sontag's Production of 304
Come tu mi vuoi (Teatro Stabile di Torino, Stagione 1980-81).
L'Herbier, Cineaste - An Introduction to his film, 320
Feu Mathias PasoaZ (1925).
Notes 335
Selected Bibliography 406
Photographs 412
Adriana Asti as L'Ignota, Maria Fabbri as Lena, and Alessandro
Esposito as Sa1esio in Come tu mi vuoi, directed by Susan
'Sontag (Teatro Stabile di Torino, Stagione 1980-81), Act II.
[Maurizio Buscarino, Via 4, Bergamo, Italy.]
Cado~e,
Adriana Asti' as L'Ignota in Come tu mi vuoi, directed by
Susan Sontag (Teatro Stabile di Torino, Stagione 1980-81),
Act I.
[Maurizio Buscarino, Via Cadore, 4, Bergamo, Italy.]
PREFACE
Criticism of Pirandell0 is as prolific as the writer's own work.
In the course ,o f my research, it became apparent that despit' e the diver-
sity of analyses, there was no single full-length study of the theatri
a
cality of his plays from socialist-feminist point of view. My approach
in this study 'is as much a sign of the times as a symptom of my own par
ticular interests.
My semiotics has been generated by the developments in literary
theory in the 1970s. The present crisis in literary studies is marked
by the structuralist and post-structuralist revolutions which raised
the problems of the and the social determinants of a text.
lite~riness
The theories of Marx, Freud, Saussure, Gramsci, Lacan and Barthes, among
others, are my main influences here.
I have attempted to account for the way Pirandello's texts bear
the traces of fascism and sexuality. Despite their manifest silences,
they are eloquent about the death of narrative, and they offer a com
promise in the open-ended play. The deferred meanings lead to constant
and pleasurable re-readings of his work. I would like to note here that
I have paid attention to Pirandello's own theoretical writings and that
my analysis concentrates on a manageable selection from his forty-four
plays. I am aware that I have made many omissions, but I am also under
the impression that now that I have a thesis, this study will never end.
It is hoped that my analysis will encourage more women to develop
a post-feminist criticism which can regard male writing as historically
instructive instead of as largely oppressive; and that it will also lead
some scholars to consider new, modern and topical aspects of Pirandello's
work. It is Gramsci whose reference to his work on Pirandello in a letter
from prison of 19th March, 1927, inspires one to negotiate the Scylla and
Charybdis of critical toleration and derision in order to continue writing
"senza esempio" •
. - .