Book Review: "Theorem" by Pier Paolo Pasolini

Pier Paolo Pasolini is one of those names that went down in cinema history because of his amazing contribution to European cinema. Films such as Oedipus Rex based on the Theban Cycle play by Sophocles gave rise to Pasolini's fame and reputation for perfection as a filmmaker. Unfortunately, Pasolini's life was ended while he was still relatively young. At the age of 53, Pasolini was brutally accosted and murdered in a terrifying and graphic way which I have chosen to leave out here. But, based on a play script that was made into a film and then written into a book of prose and poetry, Theorem is a strange outlook on life's unexpected events and how they leave us feeling changed.

A stranger arrives at a family home which features some odd people roaming around. Slowly but surely, everyone in the building seems to become drawn to this stranger, referred only to as 'the guest'. Eventually, they each have their reasons for loving him entirely even though his nature is (in my opinion) a little off-putting and mysterious. But, when the stranger suddenly leaves without warning, the family are left to pick up the pieces of the true impact he had upon each of their lives. Honestly, the book is so simplistic that more than often it reads not like a story, but a biography of a family.

Let me note the advantages of this book to begin with. First of all, we have the storyline which often feels a bit surreal. Even though it is set in a very regular environment with characters who are basically unremarkable - it still manages to make the narrative feel quite bold and thought-provoking. This can be considered an advantage but there was something that was bugging me along the same lines, which I cannot call an advantage.

The thing that was bugging me was the translation. I picked up the translation published by the NYRB Classics, translated by Stuart Hood. It seems to be that at times this translation became disjointed and felt a bit bland for a Pasolini. I was pretty struck as well, by how difficult it was initially to get into. The story itself felt simple and was written in a casual style, but I am pretty sure the translation could have been better than it was purely because it overcomplicated it. It either made it wordy without being charming, or reduced entire scenes to basically nothing with its bland language and lack of style.

However, another advantage of the text was the influence of Pasolini's poetry on to the main narrative. Interspersed with poetry, it includes these pieces as reflections on the story at that moment and helps the reader to make sense of what's going on in a deeper and more emotional way. Be that as it may, it did not help that the translation was not all that great. I am sure however, that the writing of Stuart Hood simply did not suit my taste and may be objectively good. I was looking for something else and simply did not get it.

All in all, the book has moments of romance and fright - with scenes of the father sick in bed being some of the most captivating and the better translated too in the whole text. There is something deeply moving about the film of the same name and it really comes down to how much you are in want to understand of Pasolini, as I will tell you this: if it were a book by any other filmmaker that was translated into English by this particular translator, I would not have held out for the whole book. But for Pasolini, I did.

I feel like that though there was a script and a film, the book was definitely needed but I do will you, reader, to watch the film before you read the book. I know this sounds almost sacrelige but, it makes more sense to see Pasolini's true ideas come to life before you read someone else trying to make sense of him in translation.