Irony: metafiction in Luigi Malerba’s works.
In this thesis I examine irony and metafiction in some novels by Italian writer Luigi Malerba (1927-2008). Metafiction characterizes all of Malerba’s works; this dissertation shows how Malerba’s works constantly draw attention to themselves and consequently encourage readers to pose questions about the existing relationship between fiction and reality. Similarly, irony fosters further investigation of language as sign system; through recurrent word games, Malerba removes the certainty of a univocal existing correspondence between signifier and signified.
In the first chapter I discuss the very first works by the author: Le lettere di Ottavia, Il serpente, Salto mortale and Il protagonista. The entire chapter revolves around the construction of possible worlds and, therefore, of fictional worlds. Through this analysis the borders between fiction and reality appear to be quite weak; they are indeed proved to be an illusory construction of contemporary human beings who tend to think according to binary oppositions, such as reality and dream, reality and fiction.
I proceed by examining Storie dell’anno mille, Il pataffio, I cani di Gerusalemme and Le maschere; these novels are imbued with history. The central theme of the entire chapter is history and fabulation and their relationship to each other. History is shown to be part of human discourse: historical events are made out of pure chronicles by a process called emplotment. The form that the historical narration takes on inevitably influences the meaning of the events narrated.
In the third chapter I analyze Le pietre volanti, La superficie di Eliane and Il circolo di Granada. Here I demonstrate how Malerba uses detective novels in a non-canonical way, turning his own works into anti-detective novels. In these works, the investigation does not reach any rewarding ending; even at the conclusion of the story, the detective’s hypothesis cannot be completely ruled out and the reader is left with what Stefano Tani calls a “fiction of possibilities”.
Fantasmi romani occupies the whole chapter four. In this final chapter I discuss why this work, the very last one before the author’s death, can be considered his literary testament. In this novel, Malerba’s readers can find all the peculiarities which have distinguished the author’s writing for more than four decades. Along with recognizing his style, readers will appreciate new developments in his narration. This work encourages readers to investigate the consuming relationship which can be established between a writer and his reader.
In the end of this thesis, some considerations for further investigation are made; these considerations focus on Luigi Malerba’s writing for children, an area of study that has received little critical attention.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/32203 |
| Date | 20 March 2012 |
| Creators | Chiafele, Anna |
| Contributors | Capozzi, Rocco |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | Italian |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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