Three Plays: Six Characters in Search of an Author, Henry IV, The Mountain Giants (Oxford World's Classics) by Luigi Pirandello Read Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Luigi Pirandello
(
Think it Over, Giacomino
;
The Cap and Bells
;
Liolà
;
The Jar
). Novel
Shoot
(1916, later renamed
The Notebooks of Serafino Gubbio
) testifies to P’s interest in the cinema. Italy enters war against Austria (1915); Stefano Pirandello volunteers, is taken prisoner (1916), and begins sustained correspondence with father.
Giorgio De Chirico founds movement of ‘Metaphysical Painting’ (1915); Giuseppe Ungaretti,
The Buried Port
(1916); Luigi Chiarelli,
The Mask and the Face
(1916).
1917–20
With
Right You Are, If You Think You Are
(1917) begins a new series of plays in standard Italian and with bourgeois settings (
The Pleasure of Honesty
;
The Grafting
;
It Can’t Be Serious
;
The Rules of the Game
;
Man, Beast and Virtue
;
As Before, Better than Before
;
All for the Best
;
Signora Morli, One and Two
). P’s work now staged by the most prominent actors and directors: Angelo Musco (for the dialect plays), Ruggero Ruggeri, Virgilio Talli. First collection of plays published as
Naked Masks
(
Maschere nude
, 1918). Stefano returns from captivity; Antonietta, increasingly disturbed, accuses her husband of incestuous relations with Lietta, and is moved to mental home (1919) where she remains until her death forty years later. War ends (1918) with Italian victory over Austria and territorial gain of South Tyrol. D’Annunzio leads group of ultra-nationalist veterans (
irredentisti
) to seize port of Fiume (1919), later ceded to Italy.
Rosso di San Secondo,
Puppets, What Passion!
(1918); Giuseppe Ungaretti,
The Joy of Shipwrecks
(1919); Shaw,
Heartbreak House
(1919); Joyce,
Ulysses
(1920).
1921–2
Catastrophic Rome premiere of
Six Characters in Search of an Author
(10 May 1921) is followed by success in Milan later the same year. Pitoëff’s 1923 Paris production assures P’s international fame and
Six Characters
is translated and performed throughout Europe. Similar success greets
Henry IV
(February 1922).
To Clothe the Naked
staged in same year. First four volumes of collected short stories published under the title
Stories for a Year
(
Novelle per un anno
, 1922). Fascist March on Rome; Mussolini appointed prime minister (1922).
T. S. Eliot,
The Waste Land
(1922).
1923–4
New plays,
The Man with the Flower in His Mouth
(1923),
The Life I Gave You
(1923), and
Each in His Own Way
(1924) which develops the metatheatrical discourse initiated by
Six Characters
. Special Pirandello season in New York (1923–4) presents
Six Characters, Henry IV
, and
As Before, Better Than Before
. Adriano Tilgher’s discussion of the plays’ philosophical implications (1923). ‘Pirandellism’ becomes a byword. Government in danger of collapse after murder of Socialist deputy Matteotti (1924). P joins the Fascist party. Mussolini weathers the storm and builds totalitarian state.
Italo Svevo,
Zeno’s Conscience
(1923); Shaw,
Saint Joan
(1923); Thomas Mann,
The Magic Mountain
(1924).
1925–7
New edition of
Six Characters
(1925), revised in the light of Pitoëff’s production. Founds Arts Theatre of Rome with official state sponsorship. Writes and directs new plays, including
Our Lord of the Ship
(1925) and
Diana and Tuda
(1927). Increasingly involved with practical side of theatre as director and manager. Completion and publication of last novel,
One, No One, One Hundred Thousand
(1926). Passionate and probably unconsummated love for company’s leading young actress, Marta Abba.
Gide,
The Counterfeiters
(1925); Eugenio Montale,
Cuttlefish Bones
(1925); Proust,
In Search of Lost Time
(1927); Woolf,
To the Lighthouse
(1927); Grazia Deledda awarded Nobel Prize (1926).
1928–9
New work includes the first two plays of the myth trilogy,
The New Colony
(1928) and
Lazarus
(1929). Despite successful tours abroad (England, France, Germany, Brazil, Argentina), the Arts Theatre is dissolved in 1928. P blames lack of adequate government support and will continue to resent Mussolini’s reluctance to fund a national theatre company. Member of
Think it Over, Giacomino
;
The Cap and Bells
;
Liolà
;
The Jar
). Novel
Shoot
(1916, later renamed
The Notebooks of Serafino Gubbio
) testifies to P’s interest in the cinema. Italy enters war against Austria (1915); Stefano Pirandello volunteers, is taken prisoner (1916), and begins sustained correspondence with father.
Giorgio De Chirico founds movement of ‘Metaphysical Painting’ (1915); Giuseppe Ungaretti,
The Buried Port
(1916); Luigi Chiarelli,
The Mask and the Face
(1916).
1917–20
With
Right You Are, If You Think You Are
(1917) begins a new series of plays in standard Italian and with bourgeois settings (
The Pleasure of Honesty
;
The Grafting
;
It Can’t Be Serious
;
The Rules of the Game
;
Man, Beast and Virtue
;
As Before, Better than Before
;
All for the Best
;
Signora Morli, One and Two
). P’s work now staged by the most prominent actors and directors: Angelo Musco (for the dialect plays), Ruggero Ruggeri, Virgilio Talli. First collection of plays published as
Naked Masks
(
Maschere nude
, 1918). Stefano returns from captivity; Antonietta, increasingly disturbed, accuses her husband of incestuous relations with Lietta, and is moved to mental home (1919) where she remains until her death forty years later. War ends (1918) with Italian victory over Austria and territorial gain of South Tyrol. D’Annunzio leads group of ultra-nationalist veterans (
irredentisti
) to seize port of Fiume (1919), later ceded to Italy.
Rosso di San Secondo,
Puppets, What Passion!
(1918); Giuseppe Ungaretti,
The Joy of Shipwrecks
(1919); Shaw,
Heartbreak House
(1919); Joyce,
Ulysses
(1920).
1921–2
Catastrophic Rome premiere of
Six Characters in Search of an Author
(10 May 1921) is followed by success in Milan later the same year. Pitoëff’s 1923 Paris production assures P’s international fame and
Six Characters
is translated and performed throughout Europe. Similar success greets
Henry IV
(February 1922).
To Clothe the Naked
staged in same year. First four volumes of collected short stories published under the title
Stories for a Year
(
Novelle per un anno
, 1922). Fascist March on Rome; Mussolini appointed prime minister (1922).
T. S. Eliot,
The Waste Land
(1922).
1923–4
New plays,
The Man with the Flower in His Mouth
(1923),
The Life I Gave You
(1923), and
Each in His Own Way
(1924) which develops the metatheatrical discourse initiated by
Six Characters
. Special Pirandello season in New York (1923–4) presents
Six Characters, Henry IV
, and
As Before, Better Than Before
. Adriano Tilgher’s discussion of the plays’ philosophical implications (1923). ‘Pirandellism’ becomes a byword. Government in danger of collapse after murder of Socialist deputy Matteotti (1924). P joins the Fascist party. Mussolini weathers the storm and builds totalitarian state.
Italo Svevo,
Zeno’s Conscience
(1923); Shaw,
Saint Joan
(1923); Thomas Mann,
The Magic Mountain
(1924).
1925–7
New edition of
Six Characters
(1925), revised in the light of Pitoëff’s production. Founds Arts Theatre of Rome with official state sponsorship. Writes and directs new plays, including
Our Lord of the Ship
(1925) and
Diana and Tuda
(1927). Increasingly involved with practical side of theatre as director and manager. Completion and publication of last novel,
One, No One, One Hundred Thousand
(1926). Passionate and probably unconsummated love for company’s leading young actress, Marta Abba.
Gide,
The Counterfeiters
(1925); Eugenio Montale,
Cuttlefish Bones
(1925); Proust,
In Search of Lost Time
(1927); Woolf,
To the Lighthouse
(1927); Grazia Deledda awarded Nobel Prize (1926).
1928–9
New work includes the first two plays of the myth trilogy,
The New Colony
(1928) and
Lazarus
(1929). Despite successful tours abroad (England, France, Germany, Brazil, Argentina), the Arts Theatre is dissolved in 1928. P blames lack of adequate government support and will continue to resent Mussolini’s reluctance to fund a national theatre company. Member of
Similar Books
Collision of The Heart
Laurie Alice Eakes
Who Owns Kelly Paddik
Beth Goobie
Monochrome
H.M. Jones
No Daughter of the South
Cynthia Webb
House of Steel
Raen Smith
With Baited Breath
Lorraine Bartlett
Redaction: Extinction Level Event (Part I)
Linda Andrews
Out of Place: A Memoir
Edward W. Said
How Cassie Got Her Grind Back
Heather Rainier
Run to Me
Christy Reece