Mattia Pascal
Mattia Pascal (Original title: Il fu Mattia Pascal ) is a novel by the Italian writer Luigi Pirandello from 1904.
action
Mattia Pascal lives in Miragno, where his father bequeathed a sulfur mine to him, his brother Roberto and his mother. Batta Malagna, a dishonest steward, is interested in taking over the property. The businessman marries Oliva, a girl Mattia has known since childhood. The marriage remains childless. Malagna puts the blame on Oliva, without even considering that the "problem" could be with him. Out of defiance, Oliva begins an affair with Mattia, from whom she also becomes pregnant.
Pomino, a good friend of Mattia's, tells him that while talking to a servant, he found out that Malagna's cousin, Marinna Dondi, the widow Pescatore, accuses her cousin of being childless because he is her daughter Romilda didn't want to get married. Pomino is in love with Romilda himself.
Mattia and Pomino fear that Malagna wants to father a child with Romilda in order to prove his fertility. Pascal helps his friend. He advises him to marry Romilda herself. With an excuse, Mattia goes to Marianna Dondi. There he also found Malagna and met Romilda. He announces his intention to visit the widow and her daughter again soon. But the mother is not exactly happy about the announcement of a return visit from Mattia.
Although Mattia tells Romilda about Pomino, Romilda falls in love with Mattia and he reciprocates her feelings. One day the girl is left alone with him. Romilda asks him to take her away. When Mattia becomes pregnant, he thinks about how to prepare his mother for the now inevitable wedding. However, he receives a letter from Romilda in which she writes that they can no longer see each other. Mattia doesn't understand Romilda's motives. Oliva goes to his house. She is desperate for her husband and needs someone to talk to: Mattia's mother. Batta Malagna announces the birth of his long-awaited child. Now Mattia understands why Romilda doesn't want to see him anymore and feels betrayed by her. He goes to Oliva's house and shows her the letter. She immediately understands that Malagna cannot be the real father of Romilda's child. Mattia tells her, however, that she should let him believe that he can really father children. However, Malagna discovers his wife's attempt to deceive and goes to Mattia. He tells him he has dishonored his niece and is demanding redress.
Romilda finally explains to Mattia why she wrote the said letter. When she confessed to her mother that she loved Mattia, she said, utterly angry, that she would never agree to marry her daughter with such a lazy man. When Batta Malagna joined them, the widow Pescatore left her daughter alone with him. Romilda asks Mattia to give her mother a conscience in order to convince her to marry Mattia after all. Although moved by the girl's confession of love, he protests that he is powerless in the situation. As a minor, Romilda is entirely under the tutelage of her mother. For this reason she must bow to their will. As a compromise, however, he suggests that the child she is expecting be recognized as his own. Now that Malagna's wife is also pregnant, he will have to be a father to this child, also from Mattia. Mattia is eventually forced to marry Romilda, who is jealous of Oliva's child because it will not be born in uncertainty like hers.
To save the legacy and the mine, the Pascals must sell real estate. Mattia's mother moves in with her son. But that's not enough. Pascal tries to find a job, but fails. The widow Pescatore and Romilda treat Mattia's mother very unkindly. So she moves to Scolastica, a sister of her late husband. One evening Mattia runs into Pomino by chance. Mattia still carries on his betrayal, but the protagonist tries to convince him that Pomino was the one who cheated on him, since he now has to make the sacrifice of living with Romilda and the widow. The friend finds a job for him: Mattia becomes a librarian.
One day he gets word that Romilda is in labor. He rushes home, where Marianna Dondi tells him to get a doctor as soon as possible. After searching in vain, Mattia returns home exhausted and finds the doctor. Pascal learns that he has become the father of twin girls. However, one daughter dies only a few days after the birth and the other is not quite a year old either. Mattia's mother dies almost at the same time. In his grief, Mattia wanders aimlessly through the village. In the end he finds himself on his estate, by the stream of his mill. An old miller comes and comforts him.
After a usual argument with Romilda and the widow Pescatore, he fled the village. He can no longer bear his miserable life. He is considering going to Marseille and from there on to America. Inspired by an advertisement for gambling in Nice, he stopped in Monte Carlo to play roulette and, to his surprise, won.
Mattia keeps winning and getting rich. On the morning of the 12th day, Mattia learns that a young man has killed himself. He knew him, they both played at the same table once. Determined to return home to buy his fortune and get revenge on his mother-in-law, he gets on the next train to Italy. On his journey, to his shock, he discovered his own obituary notice in a newspaper. Mattia Pascal's body was found in Miragno in the channel of a mill. Authorities believe that he committed suicide because of financial problems. Even though confused and shocked, he realizes that the fact that everyone thinks he is dead gives him a new life. Under the pseudonym Adriano Meis he sets out on countless trips. In the end, he decides to retire in Rome. He rents a furnished room and falls in love with Adriana, the tender and discreet daughter of the landlord, Anselmo Paleari. He would like to marry her to start a new and stable life. However, he quickly realizes that his existence is only a sham. Since he is not registered in the register of residents, he cannot marry Adriana, sue the man who tried to steal money from his room, and in general cannot do many everyday activities because he has no identity. Disaffected, he fakes his suicide and returns to Miragno under his old name Mattia Pascal. Two years have now passed, and when he gets back to his village, he learns that his “widow” has remarried. Namely Pomino, with whom she also has a daughter. He withdraws to a dusty library where he once worked to write down his story and every now and then to put a wreath of flowers on his own grave with the inscription "Il fu Mattia Pascal" (German: "He was Mattia Pascal") to lay.
characters
Mattia Pascal / Adriano Meis
He is the main character. He feels oppressed by life and the only thing he wants is to flee from everyday life. Fate reveals this possibility to him and makes him completely independent. Everything is provided for him and he no longer has to worry about anything. Ultimately, he has to realize that he cannot have a future without a past.
Mattia Pascal's mother
After the death of her husband, she is often sick, but never complains about it. Most of all she worries about her children, who are practically destitute after the death of their father after the mother left the entire inheritance under the administration of Batta Malagna, who ran dishonest business.
Giambattista Malagna
He is the only friend of Mr. Pascal. His mother entrusts him with all the man's fortune to manage, which plunges the family into disaster. He marries Oliva, a cousin of Mattias. He accuses her of being sterile, but this turns out to be wrong because Mattia makes her pregnant.
The widow Pescatore, Marianna Dondi
She is Malagna's cousin and one of the reasons why Mattia wants to escape from his own life. She becomes Mattia's mother-in-law after he marries her daughter Romilda Pescatore. But she doesn't like him from the start.
Adriana Paleari
She is the daughter of Anselmo Paleari, the owner of a guest house in Via Ripetta in Rome, where Mattia Pascal stays under the identity of Adriano Meis during his stay in the capital. She is friendly, polite, affectionate and discreet, but at the same time she is responsible for herself and for the whole family. Mattia falls in love with Adriana, who also returns his love. However, due to Mattia's false identity, a wedding cannot take place.
Terenzio Papiano
Terenzio is the widower of Adriana's sister and tries at all costs to marry the girl. He is a ruthless man who does anything for money.
Gerolamo Pomino
He is a childhood friend of Mattia Pascal, who already had a deep affection for Romilda Pescatore as a boy. Mattia first wants to couple the two, but then begins a relationship with her herself, which ends in pregnancy. However, Pomino is lenient and even helps Mattia find a job.
Tweezers
He is the tutor of Mattia Pascal and his brother.
Aunt Scolastica
She is Mattia's aunt, who helps both sister-in-law and nephew in difficult times and tries unsuccessfully to open her sister-in-law's eyes while Batta Malagna continues to harm them.
Oliva
A poor and honest country girl who is courted by Mattia at the beginning. She eventually marries Malagna but becomes pregnant after an affair with Mattia. However, the born son is raised by Malagna like his own.
Anselmo Paleari
Adriana Paleari's father is the 60-year-old owner of the pension on Via Ripetta in Rome. He can no longer work and devotes his entire life to reading, philosophy and thinking about his favorite subject: occultism.
Film adaptations
The first film adaptation, The Two Lives of Mathias Pascal, is a silent film and dates from 1926. It was directed by Marcel L'Herbier with Ivan Mosjoukine in the lead role.
The second film adaptation from 1937 comes from the French director Pierre Chenal . The main actor is Pierre Blanchar .
The third version from 1985 was made into a film by Mario Monicelli with Marcello Mastroianni in the lead role.
expenditure
- Luigi Pirandello: Mattia Pascal , Volume 9 of: Gesammelte Werke , Propylaeen, Berlin 1999, ISBN 978-3-54905538-0 .
- Luigi Pirandello: Mattia Pascal , Wagenbach, Berlin 2000, ISBN 978-3-80312379-4 .
- Luigi Pirandello: The change of Mattia Pascal , online resource (PDF), Null Papier Verlag, Neuss 2017, ISBN 978-3-954188-28-4 .