Pirandello: a theory and practice of «humorism»

Abstract

What defines the special character of Pirandello's works is the fact that he creates his own literary movement, which draws on the duality of theoretical and practical aspects. His own practice led Pirandello to the creation of a theory (‘humorism') that declares analytical dismantling of reality to be the ultimate goal of literature in order to depict the world as a series of illusions devoid of a unifying central idea. Guided by this postulate, Pirandello was close to deconstruction of the tools he used, namely the novel and the play. His reimagining of the novel was less radical: the revision of this form remained incomplete. His reforms of playwriting principles were more advanced, as Pirandello problematised and rejected traditional oppositions — primarily, the opposition of art to reality. In The Mountain Giants [I giganti della montagna], his final and unfinished play, Pirandello attempted to create a myth about art as a medium between the material and the ideal, but, confined to the rules of ‘humorism', he remained trapped by this contradiction.