Abstract
The chapter analyzes the multifaceted production of Pier Paolo Pasolini, taking into consideration its poetry—from Poesie a Casarsa to La nuova gioventù—but also his novels, his essays, and his movies. The aim is to analyze the twofold concept of utopia in Pasolini: one is based on the idea of a mythical return to the origins, the other one is more influenced by the leftist ideology and inspired by the figure of Antonio Gramsci. Pasolini’s utopia is based on the figure of the subproletarian, an innocent subject that, thanks to his naivety, can represent an alternative to bourgeois capitalism. The contradiction between these two models will eventually lead to the collapse of Pasolini’s utopian system.
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Notes
- 1.
Unless otherwise indicated, translations are my own.
- 2.
As noted by Francesca Cadel, the fact that Pasolini dedicated his first book of poems in dialect, Poesie a Casarsa, to his father, knowing that his father never spoke that language (Cadel 2002, 11–12), seems to be a very antagonistic move.
- 3.
La scoperta di Marx (The Discovery of Marx) is the title of a Pasolini poem.
- 4.
See Santato, Guido. “L’abisso tra corpo e storia. Pasolini fra mito, storia e dopostoria”. Studi pasoliniani I (2007), 17.
- 5.
See Moretti, Franco. The Way of the World. The Bildungsroman in European Culture. London: Verso, 1989, 22.
- 6.
The English translation is taken from: Pasolini, Pier Paolo. The Selected Poetry of Pier Paolo Pasolini, edited and translated by Stephen Sartarelli. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2014, 123.
- 7.
Selected Poetry 129.
- 8.
Selected Poetry 127.
- 9.
See Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio. Poesia e narrativa del secondo Novecento. Milano: Mursia, 1961, 101–102.
- 10.
See Tricomi, Antonio. Sull’opera mancata di Pasolini. Roma: Carocci, 2006, 108.
- 11.
Selected Poetry 163.
- 12.
Selected Poetry 165.
- 13.
Selected Poetry 177.
- 14.
Selected Poetry 199.
- 15.
Selected Poetry 217.
- 16.
The English translation is taken from Pasolini, Pier Paolo. The Ragazzi, translated by Emile Capouya. Manchester: Carcanet Press Limited, 1986, 248.
- 17.
See Biancofiore, Manuela. Pasolini. Palermo: Palumbo, 2008, 129.
- 18.
There is a memorable line, uttered by one of the characters of Bertolucci’s Prima della rivoluzione: “Il cinema è un fatto di stile, e lo stile è un fatto morale” (Cinema is a stylistic issue, and style is a moral issue).
- 19.
See Viano, Maurizio. A Certain Realism. Making Use of Pasolini’s Film Theory and Practice. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993, 100.
- 20.
See Per il cinema 2769.
- 21.
Selected Poetry 285.
- 22.
The expression nuovi martiri senza santità (new martyrs without sanctity) is taken from Murri, Serafino. Pier Paolo Pasolini. Firenze: La Nuova Italia, 1994, 36.
- 23.
For this connection between Barabbas and La ricotta see Subini, Tomaso. Pier Paolo Pasolini: La ricotta. Torino: Lindau, 2009, 31.
- 24.
See Fusillo, Massimo. La Grecia secondo Pasolini. Firenze: La Nuova Italia, 1996, 20.
- 25.
According to Mengaldo, the texts after La religione del mio tempo do not belong to the history of Pasolini’s poetry. See Mengaldo, Pier Vincenzo. Poeti italiani del Novecento. Milano: Mondadori, 2004.
- 26.
In other places of Poesia in forma di rosa the New Prehistory has a negative connotation. In Pietro II the term identifies a time of decadence (Tutte le poesie: I, 1149); in Poema per un verso di Shakespeare the New Prehistory is identified with neocapitalism (1167); finally, in Una disperata vitalità, the New Prehistory is the resurgence of fascism (1201): “quanto al futuro, ascolti: / I suoi figli fascisti / veleggeranno / verso i mondi della Nuova Preistoria” (as for the future, listen: / your fascist sons / will sail / towards the worlds of the New Prehistory).
- 27.
See Bataille, George. L’erotismo (L’erotisme, 1957). Milano: SE, 1986, 65.
- 28.
The translation is taken from Alighieri, Dante. Purgatory and Paradise, translated by Henry F. Cary. Chicago: Thompson & Thomas, 1901.
- 29.
See Bogliari, Gianfranco. Il Decameron al cinema. Un’opera all’origine di tanti film (11 dic. 2013). http://www.altritaliani.net/spip.php?article1723.
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Fioretti, D. (2017). Pier Paolo Pasolini: The Contradictions of Utopia. In: Utopia and Dystopia in Postwar Italian Literature. Italian and Italian American Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46553-1_3
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