When Storytelling Reframes Adultery: The Dramatics of Pirandello’s ‘La paura’

Abstract

Pirandello's 'La paura' (1897) represents the unusual case of a short story that was inspired by an existing drama, L'epilogo (1892), and then successively retitled and staged (La morsa, 1910). An example of textual metamorphosis, the novella departs from the theatrical source largely because of its open ending. The narrative's central plot, however, still echoes that of the drama, as they both stress the themes of money, love, family, and morality. In La morsa Pirandello conforms to naturalist conventions in his portrait of Giulia, the protagonist, who becomes ensnared by her husband into admitting her infidelity and is driven to suicide. In 'La paura', on the other hand, the author breaks with contemporary narrative trends, though maintaining the popular leitmotif of the love triangle. The wife waits for her husband's return, dominated by the ambivalent feelings of disillusion and the hope of regaining normalcy. If La morsa conforms to naturalist bourgeois drama and castigates Giulia according to the social conventions of the era, in 'La paura' Pirandello focuses on the protagonist's introspection, portraying the wife as she strives for self-absolution. By changing the novella's title and turning the husband into a 'presence' that is only evoked by the other two characters, Pirandello depicts human feelings and relationships using a new form of storytelling. The recurrent and obsessive use of a 'visual poetics' translates shadows and suspicions into words.