Review by Choice Review
The awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature to Dario Fo in 1997 has not yet dispelled skepticism among critics about even his best work's capacity to endure. The Swedish Academy itself, after all, lauded Fo for "scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden" rather than for any more specifically literary merit. But this thorough, intelligent analysis of the uniqueness of Fo's achievement convincingly shows how beside the point such caviling may be. Scuderi (Truman State Univ.) studies Fo's work through a folkloristic and anthropological lens, beginning from the insight that his "way of creating a play rejects the supremacy of the written text." He examines how the influence of concepts derived from folk culture, Bakhtinian carnival theory, Gramscian Marxism, and the moral and spiritual exemplarity of Saint Francis of Assisi (central to Lu santu jullare Francesco, 1999, which Scuderi studies in detail) has been formative in the development of Fo's theatrical praxis. The list of English-language studies of Dario Fo is not yet long; Scuderi's relatively brief but well-informed and theoretically savvy contribution goes straight to the top of that list. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. S. Botterill University of California, Berkeley
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
