Artistic originality of A. Campanile’s novel “What is Love?”

Abstract

The article presents an analysis of the first novel by A. Campanile “What is love?” (1927). A. Campanile is a little-known Italian writer-comedian in Russia, whose work has not been sufficiently studied in Italian and foreign literary criticism. The novel “What is love?” is not translated into Russian. In Italy, the novel was a great success, even though the comic tradition at that time was not well developed, critics did not take humorous works seriously. The purpose of this work is to comprehend the role and significance of the author’s heritage in the history of Italian and world literature, consider humorous techniques and analyze the comic technique in A. Campanile’s novel “What is love?” The main methodological basis of the study is a combination of historical-literary, historical-cultural, and comparative methods. The materials presented in the article allow us to conclude that the novel “What is love?” does not have the structure of a traditional novel. The main comic techniques include the disruption of the communication process between the characters, absurd characterizations, the technique of shifting and thickening (Z. Freud). The writer’s passion for mixing styles, montage writing technique testifies to Campanile’s predilection for experimental literature. The text is distinguished by the montage technique of the composition. The writer achieves a comic effect not only through paradox, word play, illogicality, but also through the novel’s unconventional form, structure violation, useless inserts and remarks.