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ETD_1671

http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.2/rucore10001600001.ETD.000051197

theses

This dissertation examines the theme of the double in Pirandello's main creative works, his short stories, novels, and plays. The first of its four parts discusses the figure of the double in literature, from ancient civilization to our time. The precursors of the double in our own culture -- in myth, and in popular and religious beliefs -- frequently served political and social ends. In modern literature and folklore doubles serve as varying metaphors of our existence. I consider here the views of Rank, Freud, Jung, and other psychologists, who understand the function of the double in our inner lives and in our social behavior as essentially images for experiences of our own souls or spirits alien to us, echoes, shadows, ghosts, that lead frequently to multiple personality disorders. The double embodies dualistic behavior; it is related to the experience of dissociation, in which we feel estranged from our own bodies; the split personality serves to separate us from what is repressed in our conscious thought. Subsequently I consider the double in relation to the poetic principles expressed by Pirandello in L'Umorismo, where it is employed in the literary representation of reality, forcing us to reconsider the concept of normal and abnormal behavior in defining our lives. Lastly, I explore the double in the life of Pirandello as a writer: to a degree like his characters, he experienced the uncertain and inconsistent realities, the obsessions, phantasms, endless inner monologues, which for him constitute the inexhaustible source of his art.
The second part of the dissertation examines the double in the short stories, and the many permutations of a paradoxical relation with reality. The stories often make use of insular characters, traditional Sicilian behavior, but they convey a modern and universal experience. The double expresses the characters' ability to understand reality, to go beneath appearance, free from "masks" and social conditioning.
In the third part I discuss the double in the novels, in particular how it defines the crisis of society; frequently the breakdown of the family unit reflects the crisis of the identity of the individual of the early 20th century. The individual is surprised to see himself as in a mirror, discovering the "other" that splits him into many strange figures, which make his daily life what it is. This doubleness may also be exhibited by the narrator, often a character who sees his own double, camouflaged within the text, becoming a shadow that in some way follows the process of the breakdown of his personality. In this state the double is seen entertaining interpersonal ties, witnessing the passage from one personality to the other, through a minute introspection and fragmentation of the self.
The fourth part considers all the major plays: those derived from short stories, those works which form the theater-within-the-theater trilogy, the plays not derived from previous works, and last, those of the second trilogy, dedicated to myth. The works selected follow the progress of the double, and Pirandello's technique of emphasizing the multiple aspects of his characters. The dramatic works are compared to their narrative sources, and their representation on stage constitutes a new, intriguing representation of the double: characters double themselves, scenery and stage sets multiply, to the point that at times the audience cannot distinguish which theatrical representation is primary.
The conclusion summarizes the major findings of the dissertation: the double has many facets, and delineates Pirandellian individuals who seek refuge in a protected world, in which they can live within a unified form, overcoming their obsessions, and participating in the patterns of normal behavior and beliefs, as the social expression of life. Because of human blindness they are left alone; they suffer from personal distress, frustration, and the powerlessness to act in accord with what they believe. They feel trapped inside an alien body, a dualistic separation of self and body that deprives them of the ability to assert themselves. As persons they must try to create their own reality much as an artist creates a work of art, a form that reveals a self that finally corresponds to a different but better identity, a self with whom he can deal. But soon they feel mistrust and resentment for this "other self," resentment, which can be so encumbering and disturbing that they are obliged to get rid of it, as if yearning to become yet another person, one who finally lives in reality as what he is, free from his double, one who lives, rather than playing a part like an actor. Yet they must learn that if they want to live they cannot hope for a different life, but must accept the one in which they live.

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 301-312)

by Eny V. Di Iorio

doi:10.7282/T37081N7

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.

ETD

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