Rationality and myth in Pirandello's later works: modernity contemporaneity and the poetics of disillusionment

Abstract

When taken together, Pirandello's last novel and his last play combine to show the ends of two lines in Pirandello's thought. The first of these lines, that of hyper-rational speculation based on the self-reflective structures of narcissism, culminates in the highly self-conscious and thoroughly ambiguous conclusion of Uno, nessuno e centomila. The second, that of equally speculative investigation into the irrational potentials of myth, comes to a close in I giganti della montagna. The central issue on which both the rational and the irrational aspects of Pirandello's works focus is one and the same, the relation between art and life. Neither a rational nor an irrational Pirandellian perspective in this regard ultimately gives rise to anything but the most pessimistic of views.