Il Fu Mattia Pascal / The Late Mattia Pascal
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Autor:
Luigi Pirandello
Country:
Italy (IT)
Book Theme:
The books of the Nobel prizes
Publisher:
Mondadori
Publishing Year:
2018
Born in Agrigento, Sicily, in 1867, he studied philosophy and literature, earning his doctorate in Germany. His early career focused on poetry and novels, including his masterpiece Il fu Mattia Pascal (1904), which explores the theme of multiple identities and societal constraints.Pirandello’s philosophical views—that human identity is fluid and that we constantly wear “masks” (maschere) to conform to societal “forms”—became the foundation of his dramatic success. His work broke radically with Naturalism.His major dramatic breakthrough came with in 1921, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Other key plays include Enrico IV (1922).He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934 for his bold and ingenious revival of dramatic and scenic art. Pirandello died in Rome in 1936.
National Award for Children’s and Young People’s
Abstract
The protagonist, Mattia Pascal, is a highly frustrated and dissatisfied man, trapped in a dreary, suffocating life in Miragno, his hometown in Liguria.
He marries the neurotic Romilda Pescatore under the pressure of her shrewd and bossy mother, Marianna Dondi (the widow Pescatore). His life is reduced to a poorly paid job as a librarian and constant marital arguments.
Determined to change his fortunes, he flees to Monte Carlo, where he experiences an unexpected stroke of luck at the casino and wins a large sum of money.
While Mattia is away, fate offers him a dramatic opportunity for freedom:
A newspaper from Miragno reports that an unrecognizable body has been found in a mill stream and, by mistake (and partly due to the deceit of his wife and mother-in-law), it has been identified as Mattia Pascal.
Initially, Mattia is ecstatic. He is “dead” to the world and believes he can start anew. He assumes the new identity of Adriano Meis, a man free from ties and responsibilities.
However, his supposed liberty quickly turns into a new, unbearable prison. Adriano Meis is a fictitious identity: he cannot report a theft, marry, buy property, or do anything requiring official documents. He is “no one,” a shadow without rights or roots in society.
Adriano Meis falls in love with Adriana Paleari, the daughter of his Roman landlord, but is forced to give up on the relationship because of his impossible situation. He realizes the only way out is to kill his own new identity:
He stages the “death” of Adriano Meis (leaving his hat and a note on a bridge) and decides to return to being Mattia Pascal.
Back in Miragno, he discovers that his wife, Romilda, has remarried his old friend Pompeo Malagna and has had a child with him.
Mattia has no choice but to accept his unique and absurd condition: he is neither Mattia Pascal nor Adriano Meis, but simply “il fu Mattia Pascal” (The Late Mattia Pascal). He cannot reclaim his old life but is forced to live on its margins, occasionally visiting his own grave in the cemetery.The novel is a profound reflection on the dichotomy between Life and Form: life is a continuous flow, but society forces us to crystallize ourselves into a “form” or “mask” (name, identity, documents). Mattia Pascal tries to break free from his form but discovers that without any form, one cannot exist in society. He becomes an outsider to life (a forestiere della vita), condemned to merely exist without truly living.
