Luigi Pirandello

Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936) is a Sicilian/Italian playwright, novelist, and short story writer known for his unique modernist writing style. His plays and novels blur the line between reality and created realities and question the idea of absolute truth. He is most famous for his play, Sei personaggi cerca d'autore (Six Characters in Search of an Author) (1921) and his novel Uno, nessuno e centomila (One, No One and One Hundred Thousand) (1926). He won the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature in 1934, and his impact on literature is uncontested as he influenced the Absurdist and Existentialist writing movements.

Fig. 1 - Pirandello won a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1934.

He won the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature in 1934, and his impact on literature is uncontested as he influenced the Absurdist and Existentialist writing movements.

A Biography of Luigi Pirandello

Luigi Pirandello was born on the 28th of June 1867 in Agrigento, Sicily into an upper-class family. His family was heavily involved in the unification and democratization of Italy, which would later appear as a theme in some of Pirandello's poetry. Pirandello was homeschooled and was exposed to a variety of legends and fables told to him by a servant, which inspired him to write his first tragedy at the age of 12. When he was old enough, he attended a secondary school to study humanities despite his father's insistence he attends a technical school. Pirandello and his father had a strained relationship, and Pirandello was much closer to his mother.

Fig. 2 - Pirandello is from Sicily, Italy.

Pirandello and his family moved to Palermo in 1880, which became a time of inspiration for Pirandello. There he began to read poems by Arturo Graf and Giosue Carducci and began writing poetry. Some of his poetry revealed the love he had for his cousin who the family encouraged him to marry—as long as he went into the sulfur business. This did not happen, but a visit to the sulfur mines inspired some of Pirandello's later work. In 1887, Pirandello went to the University of Palermo in the Department of Letters and later transferred to the University of Rome. While in Rome, Pirandello had the opportunity to begin visiting theaters.

His stay in Rome did not last long. After a dispute with his professor, Pirandello transferred to the University of Bonn. The city of Bonn turned out to be beneficial to Pirandello, who was exposed to German Romanticism and particularly the works of Goethe. He was also introduced to humorism.

Pirandello graduated in 1891 with a degree in Romance Philology. Pirandello returned to Rome and became involved in a literary circle made up of journalists and writers, including Luigi Capuana. He encouraged Pirandello's writing and in 1893 Pirandello began writing Marta Ajala (1901) and published his first short story collection, Amori senza Amore in 1894.

In 1894, Pirandello married Maria Antonietta Portulano, and they had two children. His married life and artistic friends encouraged Pirandello to keep writing fervently. In 1895, due to his connections with journalists he was able to publish part 1 of Dialoghi tra Il Gran Me e Il Piccolo Me in La Tavola Rotonda. In 1897, Pirandello began teaching at the Istituto Superiore di Magistero di Roma and in 1898, he founded a weekly titled Ariel. In Ariel, he published a one-act play titled, L'Epilogo (later changed to La Morsa and performed in 1910). He also wrote many novellas including Lumie di Sicilia (1900) and poems, including a poetry collection titled Zampogna (1901). In 1902, he published his second novel, Il Turno (1902).

In 1903, Pirandello and Antonietta lost a substantial portion of their capital when the sulfur mines they invested in flooded over. Due to the financial collapse, Antonietta began to struggle with severe mental illnesses, and Pirandello had to look over her. All the while, he continued writing his next novel, but due to the familial turmoil, he released the novel as a series in a magazine called New Anthology. The novel is semi-autobiographical about Pirandello's current situation and is titled Il Fu Mattia Pascal (1904). Once the novel was translated into German, Pirandello's fame shot up, and he began to publish with more notable publishing houses.

Fig. 3 - Pirandello became famous for his plays.

Pirandello's fame kept growing with the publication of the novellas Mondo di Carta (1909), Non e una cosa Seria (1910), and Pensaci, Giacomino! (1910). In 1911, Pirandello finished his fourth novel titled, Suo Marito (republished 1941). Pirandello kept working tirelessly producing some of the most famous pieces of Italian literature between 1913 and 1914, including La Vendetta del Cane (1913) and Filo d'aria (1914). When World War I broke out, Pirandello continued to write numerous plays in the year 1917. These plays include Cosi e (se vi pare) (1917), Ma non e una cosa seria (1917), and Il Giuoco delle parti (1918).

In the 1920s, Pirandello kept writing plays some of which divided public opinion such as Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore (1921). After joining the National Fascist Party under the rule of Benito Mussolini, Pirandello was assigned as the owner and director of the Teatro d'Arte di Roma in 1925.

In 1926, Pirandello published his greatest and final novel, Uno, Nessuno e Centomila. In 1934, Pirandello was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Two years later, on December 10, 1936, Pirandello died, and his cremations were buried in Sicily.

Luigi Pirandello Plays

Luigi Pirandello wrote approximately twenty plays throughout his lifetime. During the height of his career, Pirandello's plays relied on the principle of dramatic arts as a form of deception and the creation of a new reality. Pirandello believed in the principle that humanity likes to lie to itself and retire into a made-up world, rather than face the uncertainties and dangers of the real world. His plays went on to influence literary movements such as absurdism and existentialism. Pirandello is most well known for his plays Cosi e (se vi pare), Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore, and Enrico IV (1922).

Cosi e (se vi pare) (1917)

Cosi e (se vi pare), which translates into Right You Are! (if you think so) is a 1917 play by Luigi Pirandello. The play contains three acts and was first performed in Milan. Cosi e (se vi pare) is based on Pirandello's short story La Signora Frola e il Signor Ponza, suo genero (1917). The play surrounds Mr. Ponza and his mother-in-law, Lady Frola. They escape after an earthquake rattles their home in Marsica. After suspicions arise over the nature of Mrs. Ponza, an investigation begins to surround Lady Frola and her family. Crazy stories, winding riddles, and gossip bring confusion to everyone involved until an earthquake and Councillor Agazzi's tenacity reveal the truth. The themes contained within the play include different versions of the truth, insanity, and created realities.

Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore (1921)

Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore, which translates into Six Characters in Search of an Author, is a 1921 play by Luigi Pirandello. The play premiered in the Teatro Valle located in Rome. The play belongs to a genre of Drama today known as absurdism and contains elements of metatheatre.

Enrico IV (1922)

Enrico IV, also known as Henry IV, is a 1922 tragedy by Luigi Pirandello that made its premiere in the Teatro Manzoni, Milan.

The play contains a total of three acts and explores themes such as madness, constructed realities, and ordinary life. The play follows an Italian aristocrat who is playing Henry IV at a festival. When he falls off his horse, he believes himself to be the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV (1050-1106).

Fig. 4 - An aristocrat believes himself to be Henry IV in Enrico IV.

To maintain his royal persona and not confuse the aristocrat, his family decorates his home and hires servants to mimic the court of Henry IV. When a doctor is brought in to shock Henry out of his confusion, they find out Henry may have been playing all along. Rather than live in the 20th century, Henry wished to live in the 11th century. However, no one believes him and chaos ensues.

Luigi Pirandello Novels

Luigi Pirandello wrote several novels throughout his lifetime. His novels are considered to be examples of modernism.

Pirandello's greatest novel is considered to be Uno, nessuno e centomila which he began writing in 1909 and was published episodically in the magazine, Fiera Letteraria.

The Writing Style of Luigi Pirandello

The writing style of Luigi Pirandello sets him apart as a unique writer from the early 20th century. His writing style went on to influence literary movements such as existentialism and absurdism. Pirandello's writing style is sometimes called "Pirandellian" and is based on the principle of blurring reality and a created reality. Pirandello does this by contrasting the spontaneous, ever-changing aspects of life with the unchanging nature of art. Therefore, in a majority of Pirandello's plays and novels, characters often have many identities that shift as an illusion until the mask is uncovered on the character. Pirandello also uses metatheatre to bring attention that the activities happening on stage belong to a play and that the characters are simply actors creating a new reality.

Throughout the plays of Pirandello, there are instances in which characters are created by both the author (Pirandello) and the actor playing the character. In this way, the character devised by the author will sometimes be interpreted differently by the actor. This becomes a metaphor for the nature of human life. Human life is ever-changing and is never in a fixed state, just as the characters are ever-changing and are never in a fixed state. The best example of this comes from Pirandello's play Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore.

Quotes by Luigi Pirandello

The works of Luigi Pirandello can be complex and confusing. Let's take a closer look at some quotes by Luigi Pirandello to better understand his work as an author.

In this quote from the play Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore, a character known as the Father is contemplating his role as the one who brings about the tragic elements of the storyline being written within the play. He is an unfinished character being written by the Director in a play written by Pirandello, and he becomes self-aware momentarily that he will never have a fixed personality. However, after he is caught engaging in inappropriate behavior in the back of a shop, he is fixed into the role of a perverted man. However, this fixed role is only one perception of him that has been observed by another character and the audience.

In this quote from Enrico IV, the aristocrat who believes himself to be Henry IV is musing on the perception of people by others. He is touching on a concept found in many of Pirandello's plays. The concept is that characters, like humans, wear multiple masks that blur the line between the multiple versions of their characteristics and personality. Henry is stating that to appear in one singular truth, a person must know how to wear the mask they have chosen to present. In the play, Henry reveals he's been playing along the whole time and knows he isn't Henry IV, but his actions and speech sound odd. In this way, even the audience is unsure when a character is wearing a mask and shifting between truths.

In this quote from Pirandello's play, Cosi e (se vi pare), the theme of reality and perception of reality is explored. The character Laudisi brings up the point that people can never be right about a person because some will have one perception of that person, such as Laudisi saying who he is; however. there will be others who have a different perception of that person, such as when Laudisi states that Sirelli's husband, sister, niece, and Signora Cini will have their version of the truth. This being the case, truth becomes a meaningless concept because there will never be a definite, absolute truth for everyone to agree on.