Oedipus Rex

by Pier Paolo Pasolini

English, Italian (translation)

Genres: Film

150 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Italian poet, novelist, critic, essayst, journalist, translator, dramatist, film director, screenwriter and philosopher, often regarded as one of the greatest minds of XX century, was murdered violently in Rome in 1975 in circumstances not yet been clarified. Pasolini is best known outside Italy for his films, many of which were based on literary sources - The Gospel According to Saint Matthew, The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales...

Pasolini referred himself as a 'Catholic Marxist' and often used shocking juxtapositions of imagery to expose the vapidity of values in modern society.
His essays and newspaper articles often critized the capitalistic omologation and also often contributed to public controversies which had made him many enemies. In the weeks leading up to his murder he had condemned Italy's political class for its corruption, for neo-fascist terrorist conspiracy and for collusion with the Mafia and the infamous "Propaganda 2" masonic lodge of Licio Gelli and Eugenio Cefis.

His friend, the writer Alberto Moravia, considered him "the major Italian poet" of the second half of the 20th century.

Reviews

[Anna Biller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fascinating to read, partly because it's a brilliant piece of poetry, and partly because it's not structured like a traditional screenplay. It reads more like impressions and images he wanted to capture emotionally. When I write screenplays I write everything exactly to the letter, so that it can be used as a meticulous blueprint for creating the film. I started to do that when I watched some YouTube videos about the assistant director's job, and I found out that a lot of them simply go through a screenplay and make all of these creative decisions about locations, extras, scenery, etc. that it should be up to the director to make! So I started to write everything in, every background actor, every car, every color. It would be my dream to someday work like Pasolini, and write a screenplay that's more impressionistic, like poetry. But gosh darn, if his Oedipus Rex screenplay doesn't illuminate all too clearly the difference between commercial films and art films! Trying to create films that are *both* commercial and artistic is an uphill battle.

[عيسى · Rating 3 out of 5]

كنت أتمنى أشياء أكثر من هذا الكتاب، دراسة الفيلم ومراجعته على الأقل، أو حتى مقدمة من المترجم.
ما في الكتاب إلا السيناريو مترجما (خير لكم متابعة الفيلم مباشرة)، ومقدمة صغيرة كتبها بازوليني.