From theater to cinematography: The disquiet of modernity in Pirandello and his contemporaries
Item
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Title
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From theater to cinematography: The disquiet of modernity in Pirandello and his contemporaries
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:4a50f8cd8a6e:11671
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identifier
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12265
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Creator
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Sarti, Lisa,
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Contributor
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Giancarlo Lombardi
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Date
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2013
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Comparative literature | Film studies | Theater | Early Cinematography | Modernity | Panorama | Pirandello | Visual Culture
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Abstract
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From Theater to Cinematography: The Disquiet of Modernity in Pirandello and His Contemporaries investigates visual perception from the mid-nineteenth century until 1929, tracing the developments and controversies that would lead to the first talking films. Defining the `performative' space of mass entertainment as a conflict between street amusement and legitimized "art" theatre, I call attention to how visual spectacles in the city square blurred and subverted categories of class and aesthetics. Central to the inquiry is the aggressive way the cinematograph replaced theater as the leading entertainment in Europe and America. More specifically, the situation in Italy is closely examined, in particular the ambivalence of Pirandello with respect to film.;The first chapter recounts the historical, social, and cultural background in which Italian visual culture took root. The Italian case is juxtaposed with that of France and England, where industrialization and economic advantage led to a flourishing of visual entertainment. Early devices are discussed in terms of technology, commerce, and more theoretically as triggers of a new spectatorship, a new mode to theatralize settings and increasingly immerse the viewer in visual movement. The second chapter explores different forms of entertainment and their modes of commercialization before the advent of cinematography within the rising commercialism and internationalism of modern culture. The third and final part deals with the theater/cinema debate over the artistic legitimacy of the new art form. Pirandello's theoretical writings and Si gira..., his seminal novel on the disconcerting effects of the cinematic spectacle, as well as several adaptions, are for the first time examined as significant in his career.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Comparative Literature
