Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA
Date of Award
4-2014
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Spanish
First Advisor
Dr. Elena Vega-Sampayo
Second Advisor
Dr. Suzanne LaLonde
Third Advisor
Dr. Laura P. Garza
Abstract
The present thesis carries out a comparative analysis of the episode maese Pedro, included in the second part of Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote (1615), and Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author (1921) in order to explore the resonance of Cervantes in Pirandello’s play. Particular attention is paid to the dramatic techniques developed by Cervantes in his narrative and their reflection in the work of the Italian playwright and Nobel laureate. Drawing on previous studies that have addressed the influence of Cervantes on Pirandello and emphasizing the two-way influence between the Spanish and the Italian literary traditions illustrated in the work of these two authors, an analysis and comparison of the following dramatic techniques is carried out: πρόσωπα και προσωπεία (characters and masks), narrative voice, space and its specification, improvisation and epiphany of the characters, scenography, development of the action (Aristotle’s theory), and dialogue. This thesis seeks to further knowledge regarding the intersections between Cervantes and Pirandello by illustrating the transgression of two different genres, the novel and drama that the two authors achieved beyond their own epochs. In addition to explaining the reason why and how such a transgression was possible, this study also offers a framework and conceptual tools for a different approach to literature: first, as a unit, and then as an amalgam of different genres.
Granting Institution
University of Texas Brownsville
Comments
Copyright 2014 Mara Theodoritsi. All Rights Reserved.