Introduction

Abstract

Luigi Pirandello has been widely acclaimed as one of the great seminal dramatists of the twentieth century, ranked with Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekhov and Brecht in the history of theatre. Yet in spite of this vast critical acclaim, he remains something of a problematic figure, especially for English-speaking audiences and readers, for reasons that need to be clarified before the extent of his contribution can be fully assessed. In this introductory chapter certain problems surrounding this highly complex dramatist will be discussed and the sources of some of those difficulties explained; as Pirandello himself put it through the figure of the Father in Six Characters in Search of an Author, there can never be a final definitive explanation of anything on account of the inadequacy of words themselves.