
SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR * HENRY IV * THE MOUNTAIN GIANTS Pirandello ranks with Strindberg, Brecht, and Beckett as a seminal figure in modern drama. Innovative and influential, he broke decisively with the conventions of realist theatre to foreground the tensions between art and reality. In his best known play, six characters, imagined but then abandoned by their author, intrude on the rehearsals of a provincial theatre company in an attempt to play out their family drama. In the brilliant Henry IV, a young man believes himself to be the Holy Roman Emperor; attempts to cure him of his delusion have disastrous consequences. The Mountain Giants is Pirandello's last, unfinished masterpiece, in which he moves towards the mythical, and make-believe and real life once more become entangled. The play reflects its author's growing anxiety about the function of art under a fascist regime. This new edition includes Pirandello's important Preface to Six Characters, an essential critical document for understanding the play that made him famous. Anthony Mortimer's lively and performable translations remain scrupulously faithful to the letter and spirit of the originals.
Luigi Pirandello disrupts the boundary between theatrical artifice and human reality, forcing characters and actors into a collision of identity and existence. In these three plays, Pirandello explores the instability of the self and the limitations of the stage. Characters struggle to define their own narratives while opposing forces—be they directors, societal expectations, or the weight of their own delusions—threaten to dismantle their perceived reality. The narrative framework shifts between meta-theatrical commentary and psychological drama, challenging the audience to distinguish between the performance and the truth of the human condition.
Discussion often centers on Pirandello's radical departure from traditional dramatic structures and his influence on the development of modern theater. Readers frequently highlight the intellectual rigor of his work, noting that the plays function as philosophical inquiries into the nature of consciousness. Critics often point to the balance between the absurdity of the situations and the underlying gravity of the characters' existential crises. The atmosphere is consistently described as unsettling yet intellectually stimulating, with many noting that the plays remain relevant due to their focus on the fluidity of identity. These works are widely recognized for their ability to provoke deep reflection on the role of the artist and the audience in the construction of meaning.
Page Count:
241
Publication Date:
2014-01-01
ISBN-10:
0191507822
ISBN-13:
9780191507823
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