"La toccatina": polyglottal aphasia in Pirandello

Area of Science:

• Neurolinguistics
• Literary Analysis
• Psychiatry

Background:

• Luigi Pirandello's 1906 short story, "La toccatina," features a protagonist who becomes aphasic.
• The character loses the ability to speak Italian but retains German, his native language.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the literary depiction of aphasia in Pirandello's work.
• To explore the neuropsychiatric context influencing Pirandello's writing.

Main Methods:

• Literary analysis of Pirandello's short story "La toccatina."
• Historical review of neuropsychiatric understanding of aphasia in the early 20th century.

Main Results:

• The story provides a detailed, albeit fictional, account of aphasic syndrome in a bilingual individual.
• Pirandello's family connections likely exposed him to contemporary neuropsychiatric concepts.

Conclusions:

• Pirandello's narrative offers insights into the linguistic and cognitive effects of aphasia.
• The story highlights the complex relationship between language, memory, and neurological conditions.