Un Riso che si rinnova: nuovi strumenti critici per l'umorismo dopo Pirandello

In contemporary Italian literature the study of humor is not systematic and often uses old theories such as those of Bachtin and Bergson. In this PhD thesis I try to widen the method to other disciplines and to set up a Canon that starts from Pirandello up until the nineties. As a result, the theoretical part connects anthropological, neuroscientific, cognitive linguistics and cultural history studies. The aim is to set up a ductile method that gives the possibility to evaluate different angles of humor and, at the same time, to offer a valid support to the study of the humorous text in its historical dimension. The choice of the writers that were examined builds a small reference Canon of this literary genre in Italy that does not evaluate only the artistic value, but also the public diffusion. Since humor is a genre very influenced by the historical moment and the mentality, this study also deepens the events and the historical context in which the narrative works are written.