Luigi Pirandello
One of the most widely known Italian playwrights
Broaden your knowledge of Italy's life and culture, past and present, with Il Circolo Letterario. Open to everyone, this series allows you to explore Italy through its many writers and books. Presentations will be in English, with short readings in Italian. It is not required to read the books to attend.
This new episode of Il Circolo Letterario is an excellent opportunity to familiarize yourself with the life and works of Luigi Pirandello before attending the screening of Roberto Andò's movie La Stranezza (Strangeness, 2022), which portrays Pirandello at a momentous time of his life, during the 15th Italian Film Festival of Minneapolis / St. Paul (February 29 - March 3, The Main Cinema).
- The presentation will be ENGLISH -
The Circolo Letterario is back! Join Prof. Pieranna Garavaso on Saturday, February 3, 10-11:30 a.m., for a presentation on Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936), one of the most widely known Italian playwrights.
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Some of Pirandello's plays have been translated and performed all over Europe and also in the US. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1934.
Some core themes of his writing are the often absurd vicissitudes of human beings, the unfair treatment of women, the irony of fate, and the struggle to maintain one's identity vis-à-vis other people's and society's expectations. Pirandello's writings remain relevant today for their focus on the human condition and the moral dimensions and consequences of human choices.
This first appointment with Pirandello will introduce the author's life and major works. On February 24, we will meet for a Book Club edition of the Circolo Letterario devoted to the discussion of the play "Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore" (Six Characters in Search of an Author), the most successful of Pirandello's theatrical works. You are invited to read this not-very-long comedy play in Italian or English (80 pages); the discussion on February 24 will be in English, with the opportunity to continue in Italian if desired. Finally, during this year's 15th Italian Film Festival of Minneapolis / St. Paul (February 29-March 3, The Main Cinema), we invite you to attend the screening of Roberto Andò's movie La Stranezza (Strangeness), which portrays Pirandello at a momentous time of his life, when he was struggling with a writer's block and conceiving his masterpiece, "Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore."
Pieranna Garavaso is native Italian and came to the US to earn a PhD in Philosophy (at the U of Nebraska Lincoln). She taught Philosophy at the University of Minnesota Morris for 34 years. She was awarded the UMN Morris Alumni Association Teaching Award (2003), the Horace T. Morse Alumni Association Undergraduate Teaching Award (2004) and the UMN Morris Faculty Research Award (2017). Her areas of research include History of Analytic Philosophy, Philosophy of Mathematics, and Feminist Philosophies. She has published articles in Italian and English and authored, co-authored or edited several books; the last collection she has edited is the Bloomsbury Companion to Analytic Feminism (2018). As Emerita/retired she plans to devote more time to reading and discussing Italian literature.
In 2021, ICC was appointed Presidio Letterario of the Società Dante Alighieri (DA), one of the most important Italian institutions for the promotion and appreciation of Italian language and culture since 1889. ICC is now part of a network of cultural centers in Italy and abroad promoting events and initiatives related to Italian literature.
