Literary Criticism as Quadratic Position-Taking in Cultural Production: Symbolic and Pragmatic Implications. The Pirandello-Tilgher Case

Abstract

This study aims to elucidate the key characteristics of the critical text from both a symbolic and a pragmatic viewpoint. My perspective combines the Bourdieusian notion of literary field with a development of Genette’s theories on the nature of paratext. On the one hand, critical texts should be considered, from a pragmatic viewpoint, as a quadratic position-taking: i.e., as a position-taking focused on another position-taking, which coincides with the literary text. On the other hand, critical texts can be regarded as part of the paratext, and, precisely, as a special allographic epitext that cannot be reduced to the author’s will. Hence, this material and interactional position-taking has crucial semantic consequences, being embodied in five hermeneutic devices, i.e.: selection, interpretative description, comparison, framing and explicit valorization. By providing a specific slant on the literary text, the critical text triggers assessment dynamics and sometimes paves the way to several forms of mutual interaction between authors and critics. To illustrate my point, I explore the relationship between the famous dramatist Luigi Pirandello and one of his most important critics, Adriano Tilgher, a philosopher and an intellectual under whose influence Pirandello reshaped his self-interpretation. First, I analyse their mutual exchange by taking into account their crossing trajectories within the complex and stratified field of cultural production of 1910-20s Italy. Then, I explore Tilgher’s critical reviews and papers on Pirandello’s works with a view to identifying his use of the five hermeneutical devices discussed above. In the conclusions, I highlight the importance of this double bind between author and critic, which had a huge impact on both the assessment dynamics and the creative outcomes of their careers.