Il potere evocativo dell’immagine nel bestiario pirandelliano

Abstract

Pirandello’s interest in animals is evident in the narrative, in the early poems and in the plays. There is no shortage of critical juxtapositions to the fable and to Aesop, and in the critical literature of Pirandello there is no shortage of examples from which it is possible to find out its closeness to the storytellers and traditional fairy tales. The present work aims to highlight how the rich presence of animals in Pirandellian production (especially in the Novelle) is structured according to a symbolic design that, starting from the construction of the image of the animal (features, physical descriptions, movements, behaviors), acquires relevance in the identification of a characteristic that can be found in man, in the bestial dimension of man, therefore more unconscious, intimate, hidden and mysterious. It will also be analyzed how the type of description of the animal, the image deriving from its literary representation, is most of the time functional in the author’s creative process, allowing him to unravel the peculiar themes of his poetics in the narration. Birds (free and in cages), horses, cats, bats, turtles, insects that populate the pages of Pirandello will be read in their presentation in images, structured according to a design able to introduce the constant themes of Pirandello’s work. Work in which the terms “beast” and “bestiality” often refer, without too many filters to human nature. The privileged object of analysis will be Novelle per un anno, from which some particularly significant examples will be taken and examined to demonstrate the thesis outlined.