Pirandello's 'Sei Personaggi' and expressive form
Article Abstract:
The absolutes of Luigi Pirandello's 'Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore' (Six Characters in Search of an Author') are rooted in a dual structure of life and form. They appear as defining moments which inspire compulsively repetitious actions or as important memories which are never forgotten. These absolutes become the expressive forms aspired to by subjective impulses and subject matter for authors. The power of the authorial voice in this play exceeds Pirandello's power to contain it with dramatic techniques such as lighting and costumes. Since the play has no clear rational structure, frames or barriers the audience has to think unguided about the philosophical issues presented. This play is about the writing of a play.
Publication Name: Comparative Drama
Subject: Literature/writing
ISSN: 0010-4078
Year: 1996
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Memory and madness in Pirandello's Enrico IV
Article Abstract:
Luigi Pirandello's play 'Enrico IV' uses memory dysfunction and madness to examine the nature of reality and identity. A man loses his memory and imagines himself to be Henry IV, a medieval king, and his doctor and relatives indulge his beliefs. In the end he regains his memory, kills a man and returns to his fantasy life to escape. The play resembles Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' and Dante's 'Commedia,' and uses art to give credibility to historical reality as personified by Henry's nephew.
Publication Name: Comparative Drama
Subject: Literature/writing
ISSN: 0010-4078
Year: 1992
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Pirandello, the sacred, and the death of tragedy
Article Abstract:
Playwright Luigi Pirandello sought to affect life through art in his play 'I giganti della montagna.' Believing as Friedrich Nietzsche did that self creation was identical to aesthetic creation, Pirandello incorporated a wide range of referents to achieve an all-encompassing whole. He also focused on the mythic power to vanquish death, equating it to the immortality of his esthetic.
Publication Name: Comparative Drama
Subject: Literature/writing
ISSN: 0010-4078
Year: 1998
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