Musica vecchia. Immaginario nazionale e generazioni nelle «Niovelle per un anno»

In Novelle per un anno, Pirandello sees the Risorgimento as a fallen myth. In Il guardaroba dell’eloquenza and Le medaglie, Garibaldinian heroism is reduced to a mendacious tale. A crip- pling con ict separates the generations: the old seem arrogant or lost in remembrance of the patriotic glories; but the young are just as arrogant, out of frustration for not being allowed to ful ll their ambitions, or out of their indi erence to the past (as in Musica vecchia). Yet, with World War I this pattern breaks: in Berecche e la guerra, the young become the bearers of new positive values, thus giving the old a chance to be redeemed through them. This kind of national imagery isn’t merely ideological, and allows a better comprehension of Pirandello’s complex attitude towards Fascism. Ideology and literature don’t just overlap: they can also compensate each other, and de ne themselves through mutual exclusion.