Pier Paolo Pasolini by Pia Friedrich (review)

272ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW Volume. In 1959 Misrahi had said of the first edition of Frappier's study: "The result is a book whosemodestsize, appearance, and manner easily make one forget that it is an extremely important book. It probably offers the best account weshall have for a very long time of the central and seminal figure in medieval romance; and medieval romance surely played a most important role in the formation of our own modern imaginative, esthetic, and ethical sensibilities." This critical judgment is still valid, and the Cormier translation provides an English-language version in which the account is essentially intact and the critical apparatus has been expanded. WILLIAM L. HENDRICKSON Amona State University Pia Friedrich. Pier Paolo Pasolini. Boston: Twayne, G. K. Hall, 1982. Twayne's World Author Series, 657. 151p. Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975) is acknowledged in Italy's intellectual arena as one of its most prominent — although controversial — writers and film directors of the twentieth century. In her personal, stimulating and excellent monograph, Pia Friedrich has set for herself a difficult task: to analyze the compressed format of biography, works, interpretation and critical review for the Twayne's WorldAuthor Series. Professor Friedrich succeeds superbly to all of these demands, never divorcing Pasolini's work in the cinema from his major otherworks, particularly his writings: poetry, novels, literary and political essays. Oswald Stack observed in his Pasolini on Pasolini that "the restlessness and eclecticism of Pasolini's career . . . reflect a search for some appeasement of the multiplicity of incompatible contradictions which have formed his view ofthe world and of art."(p. 7) Pia Friedrich addresses directly those contradictions and offers a thoughtful and scholarly analysis of the poet's life and works. Her book is analytical and interpretive in approach and most scholarly in tone. One mark of the book's integrity is thatwhen explaining patterns and structures in Pasolini's works, Professor Friedrich draws connections and establishes distinctions very carefully. For example, Chapters One, Two and Three:"Casarsa," "The Roman Years," and "Posthumous Works" deal with the importance ofthe past — and youthful experiences in particular — in Pasolini's work; she does not stop at simply tracing a pattern or providing a blanket interpretation. Instead she shows how Pasolini's attitudes go through a process of radical transformations from his earliest works to Saló o le 120 giornate di Sodoma. Pia Friedrich views Pasolini, not only as a person but also as a director and writer, whose works are rooted in his "diversity" and cannot be disassociated from the complex political and ideological issues of his day. Her thoughtfulness is also evidenced in the book's major structure. Chapter Four, "La meglio gioventu" deals with an analysis of Pasolini's first cycle of Friulian poems. Chapter Five, "Ragazzi di rita," examines thisnovel aswell as Una vita violenta in relationship to Pasolini's poetics and the debate over neorealism . In Chapter Six, "The Ashes of Gramsci and Stylistic Freedom," Professor Friedrich writes a critial study showing how Le Ceneri di Gramsci reflects "the contrast between bourgeois background and Marxist commitment; between the ideal of freedom . . . and hypocrisy and political arrogance ... ; between a tenacious love of life in its most authentic and least rational manifestations; and the obligation Book Reviews273 to redeem this very life through political and class struggle, making a definitive choice." (p. 72) Instead of a film-by-film-approach (which often mitigates against making important connections) or the "major themes and symbols" approach (which often mitigates against making important distinctions), in Chapter Seven and Eight ("Teorema" and "The Theater of the Word") Pia Friedrich outlines broad concerns and then amplifies or conditions her generalizations by focusing on particular elements and their interaction. The final Chapter Nine, "Dismal Enthusiasm," (Tetro entusiasmo) constitutes an analysis of the last poetic composition of Pasolini. The critical sophistication of this monograph goes beyond most good biographical or earlier studies of Pasolini's works and for this reason the few typographical errors (La for Le p. 7 line 13; and foraad p. 20 line 21; footnote number 8 not printed p. 47 line 8; that for tht p. 102 line 37; and Filmcritica for Film critica p. 125 line 8...