Reviews

Rajnki Matija Paskal by Luigi Pirandello

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paginaventisei's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

jelijne's review against another edition

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5.0

Slay Pirandello

donato's review against another edition

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5.0

Before you read another book (or finish the one you're reading), before you see another movie, before you contemplate any work of art, get yourself to the nearest bookstore or library or wherever you prefer to look at books, and find Pirandello's Il fu Mattia Pascal (The Late Mattia Pascal), wherein you will find "Avvertenza sugli scrupoli della fantasia" ("A Warning on the Scruples of the Imagination"). Just read those 4 or 5 pages, which are not actually part of the novel, and you will begin to see (perhaps) that Art is True. [1]

Here's a taste:
"...quei tali signori che, giudicando un romanzo..., condannano questo o quel personaggio, questa o quella rappresentazione di fatti o di sentimenti, non già in nome dell'arte come sarebbe giusto, ma in nome d'una umanità che sembra essi conoscano a perfezione, come se realmente in astratto esistesse, fuori cioè di quell'infinita varietà d'uomini capaci di commettere tutte quelle sullodate assurdità che non hanno bisogno di parer verosimili, perché sono vere."

"...those gentlemen that, in judging a novel..., condemn this or that character, this or that representation of facts or feelings, not in the name of art as would be right, but in the name of a humanity that they seem to know perfectly, as if it actually existed, but is in fact separate from that infinite variety of men and women who are capable of committing all those above-mentioned absurdities that don't need to seem verisimilar, because they are real." (my translation)

Oh yeah, what about the novel itself? A philosophical romp into what it means to to be Alive. So good I wanted to read it again right away, but of course there's more literature to be consumed........

[1] See also Moby-Dick