Laughter from Realism to Modernism by Godioli Alberto;

Author:Godioli, Alberto;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Aesthetic incomprehension aside, Alessandro is fully aware of the distance separating him from Andrea. Just like Zeno,48 he sees his son’s rebellious nature as something he could not have inherited from the father: ‘Come poteva esser derivato da lui, tutto da lui quel giovane ribelle, irriverente, così dissimile?’ [How could that rebellious, irreverent boy, that boy so different from him, be his son?] (Il vecchio, 167–68). Moreover, Alessandro’s affection for his son is often overshadowed by envy, as the old man gets more and more blinded by his egoism and fear of death. The character is fully aware of his own base resentment towards youth, as stated in lines that might well have belonged to Zeno (were it not for their serious, emphatic tone):49

‘Non è odio, è un sentimento più gretto, più meschino, più freddoloso: io lo invidio e lo guardo aguzzando gli occhi, mal comprendendolo, soltanto sentendo che è più forte. […] Ipocrisia e paura, invidia e impotenza: ecco i punti saldi delle nostre prediche e dei nostri insegnamenti’. (Il vecchio, 341–42)

[It’s not hate, it’s a lower, colder feeling; I envy him, and however hard I try I can’t understand him — I can only feel that he is stronger than me. […] Hypocrisy and fear, envy and helplessness; this is the bottom line of our reprimands and our teaching.]

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