Pulcinella

The list of subjects that Giorgio Agamben has tackled in his career is dizzyingfrom the dangers of our current political moment to the traces of the distant past that inflect the culture around us today. With Pulcinella Agamben is back with yet another surprisingand surprisingly relevantsubject the commedia dellarte character. At the heart of Pulcinella is Agambens exploration of an album of 104 drawings created by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo 17271804 near the end of his life that cover the life adventures death and resurrection of the title character. Who is Pulcinella under his black mask Is he a man a demon or a god Mixing stories of the enigmatic Pulcinella with his own character in a sort of imaginary philosophical biography Agamben attempts to locate the line connection between philosophy and comedy. Perhaps contrary to what weve been told comedy is not only more ancient and profound than tragedy but also closer to philosophyclose enough in fact that as happens in this book at times the line between the two can blur.