Humour

Pirandello, Luigi, 1867-1936Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.3

Word count: 322K words
Chapters: 33

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.L'umorismo by Luigi PirandelloAuthor: Pirandello, Luigi, 1867-1936,Language: Italian, Class: PN: Language and Literatures: Literature: General, Criticism, Collections, Release Date: Apr 10, 2018

Editor's review

L'umorismo is Pirandello's essayistic work on humor, built around an examination of the concept of "humor": it distinguishes everyday wit from the deeper sense of humor in literature and discusses the latter's relation to reflection, feeling, and artistic creation. The book reflects the author's enduring concern with questions of character psychology and form and can be read alongside his plays. For readers studying modern Italian literature, narrative theory, and aesthetics, it offers an important entry point into Pirandello's creative vision. The original is in Italian; the language is richly speculative and the argument advances layer by layer, making it suited to close reading rather than quick browsing. Reading it together with passages from his plays or fiction is recommended, so that the abstract discussion can be grounded in concrete textual experience.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars and students of Italian literature and modern drama
Learners interested in humor, irony, and narrative theory
Advanced readers seeking to understand Pirandello's creative vision
Readers in the humanities with the ability to read Italian

Not a good fit for

Readers with no knowledge of Italian and no translation available
Casual readers expecting a light collection of jokes or humorous selections
Those who want only a quick plot summary and are unwilling to engage with theoretical argument

Reading tips

Read the whole book first to grasp the distinction between "humor" and ordinary wit, then return to the key passages.
After each section, summarize the argument in your own words to test whether you have truly understood its distinctions.
Read alongside Pirandello's plays or short stories to ground the theory in concrete textual passages.
The Italian original is best read slowly; for long sentences, first separate the main clause, then add the modifiers.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

How is this book different from ordinary books of jokes?

It is not a collection of jokes but a theoretical examination of the concept of "humor," discussing how the sense of humor involves reflection and feeling and how it relates to literary and artistic creation. The focus is on argument and conceptual distinction, not on providing entertaining laughs.

Can I read it without knowing Italian?

The original is in Italian, and the public-domain electronic edition is also an Italian text. Without Italian, you would need to rely on a reliable translation or have some command of the language before reading the original; otherwise, understanding the details of the argument will be considerably difficult.

Do I need to know Pirandello's work first?

Systematic prior study is not necessary, but a basic familiarity with his plays or fiction will make it easier to grasp what the discussion is pointing toward. If time is limited, read one of his short stories or plays first, then return to the relevant chapters of this book.

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About the author

Pirandello, Luigi, 1867-1936 Author

Luigi Pirandello (1867–1936) was an Italian writer whose biographical details are not fully recorded in this database, and public information is limited. The library holds seven of his works, spanning drama, fiction and criticism, including the representative titles Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore, Enrico IV, L'umorismo and the story collection Un cavallo nella luna: Novelle. His plays often use a play-within-a-play structure to explore the tension between reality and illusion, identity and mask, with characters struggling between self-perception and social roles; his fiction draws largely on Sicilian local life and blends irony with compassion. The critical work L'umorismo sets out his thinking on humour and artistic creation, offering an important key to his writing. Together these works show his enduring concern with the complexity of human nature and have exerted a lasting influence.