Tullio Pagano is a professor of Italian at Dickinson College.

Introduction in English (by the translator):
Pirandello in this short story portrays his mockery of the blind following industrialization. With that we also see the exaltation of the country over the city and the admiration of nature while man try to take over its world and life. This short story is an example of how trees try to grow in the city, but their mission is compromised by the humans that share the same space as them. From limiting fences, to trying to scare away singing birds that make these sad trees feel rejuvenated, it is clear that Pirandello likes to contrast the life of machines or humans with nature.

Besides the sharing of space between nature and humans, Pirandello also uses the trees as a metaphor for human sadness. He talks about trees in this story, but the real meaning is the migration of people from the country to the cities, and their sadness once they reach destination and don’t accomplish their dreams, and fall into poverty and social abandonment.

Pirandello finds himself looking at the trees that exiled from the countryside to live their dream life in the city. What happens is that the trees find themselves in a worse situation than before and live in constant fear and sadness because of the action of humans to limit their existence.

Pirandello, Luigi. Alberi cittadini. Translated by Marco Di Natale. Tullio Pagano's 2022 Senior Seminar, Dickinson College.

“This translation was submitted in May 2022 for publication in the digital edition Stories for a Year, eds. Lisa Sarti and Michael Subialka: https://www.pirandellointranslation.org/”

This is a translation of Luigi Pirandello’s short story Alberi cittadini. The translation is by Marco Di Natale, a student in Tullio Pagano’s 2022 Senior Seminar at Dickinson College. Di Natale wrote the brief introduction in English, which is followed by the translation.

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