Luigi Pirandello

Luigi Pirandello ranks as the most important and innovative Italian dramatist of the early 20th century. In his 1921 play Six Characters in Search of an Author, Pirandello introduced the technique of “theatre within the theatre”, with which he explored various concepts of reality. Winner of the 1934 Nobel Prize for literature, Pirandello expressed the confusion and suffering of the human condition in disturbing yet darkly humorous ways. His dramas focused primarily on the inherent instability of human existence, specifically the conflict of reason and instinct within the human mind.

Giraudon/Art Resource, NY

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Pirandello, Luigi; Italian Literature

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