Joyce and Pirandello鈥檚 鈥楩oolosopher鈥� kings and mocking gargoyles : Buck Mulligan and Enrico IV

Abstract

This paper investigates the affinities between the folly of Buck Mulligan in Joyce鈥檚 Ulysses and that of Enrico IV in Pirandello鈥檚 homonymous play. After looking at Michel Foucault鈥檚 Histoire de la folie 脿 l鈥櫭�ge classique, this paper will postulate that Buck Mulligan and Enrico IV seem to precede Foucault鈥檚 destabilizing vision: they are characters who, through various acts of folly, simulate the exterior signs of madness and play the fools to create confusion amidst existing forms of socialization. I shall also be looking into Robert Bell鈥檚 Jocoserious Joyce (from where the terms 鈥榝oolosopher king鈥� and 鈥榤ocking gargoyle鈥� are borrowed) and at Elio Gioanola鈥檚 Pirandello e la follia to prove that these modernist clown prototypes become a mirror of painful truths to other characters. Mulligan, for instance, reveals with irony the true nature of Stephen Dedalus, religion and Ireland, whilst Enrico reveals to his visitors their falsity and the dark realm of life鈥檚 masks. In both cases this is expressed with mood swings of mocking irony and effusions of sentiment. Both characters are also portrayed as having no fixed identities: they indulge in a tragicomic ritual of masks and folly with a delight for the ambiguities of self and language. In their words and actions, Mulligan and Enrico seem to be unshaped by history and free from any responsibility; they seem so fulfilled in playing the fools and thus become 鈥榝oolosopher鈥� kings themselves, which act the part of sceptical jokers of the universe.