Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author
Begin: 04/01/07
End: 04/02/07
Quality: Ten Out of Ten.
Reason:. Modern Drama
Genre: Drama. Italian Literature
Original Language: Italian.
Date of Publication: 1922
Fog Index: 9.3/75% are harder.
Flesch Index: 71.7/85% are harder.
Flesch-Kincaid Index: 6.7/78% are harder.
Complex Words: 9%/73% have more complex words.
Number: Once?
Storyline: A theater group is doing dress rehearsal of Pirandello’s “Mixing it up” when they are interrupted by a group of characters in search of their author. The characters, a ragtag family, then proceed to explain their story to the very confused theater manager and theater group.
Wow. Damn good. This fucking Modern Drama anthology continues to blow me away. I might have to take a gander at this book on a regular basis. The sheer richness of some of these plays is unbelievably. And the dialogue here. The sheer absurdity of the play. I loved it.
I just love the fact that Pirandello plays with so many concepts in this play. Reality, creativity, the connection between art and reality, truth, illusion. It’s all here in this play.
A couple things to talk about in this one.
First of all, I simply loved the absolute absurdity in the play. The idea that a group of characters would invade a theater looking for their author is brilliant. I mean brilliant. How did Pirandello come up with that idea? And not only did they invade the theater, they are not docile but combative and bombastic. The “real people” in this play completely fade into the background except perhaps the manager and even he is a pale shade in comparison with the characters.
The philosophy in this play is ever present, which I certainly enjoyed. The father is a veritable walking bombastic sophist. He is constantly spouting things. He is probably the central character in this play and drives the action with his constant soap box. The play is really just about the Father, the step-daughter and the manager. Everyone else fades into the background.
I also loved the fact that reality is viewed not as something solid and substantial but something completely impartial and based on the individual. (Isn’t that Heisenberg’s law or something like that) We have that scene where the father and the step-daughter are talking about when they first met up at the brothel of sorts. (Step-Daughter:“Almost in time!” Father: “No, in time, in time!”)
Okay; I guess that’s it for now. Very good play. Read it. Love it! Oh, and lot’s of quotes. It’s one of those plays where I want to underline everything,
“Oh, sir, you know well that life is full of infinite absurdities, which, strangely enough, do not even need to appear plausible since they are true.” Father, Act I.
“In the sense, that is, that the author who created us alive no longer wished, or was no longer able, materially to put us into a work of art. And this was a real crime, sir; because he who has had the lock to be born a character can laugh even at death. He cannot die. The man, the writer, the instrument of the creation will die, but his creation does not die. And to live for ever, it does not need to have extraordinary gifts or to be able to work wonders. Who was Sancho Panza? WQho was Don Abbondio? Yet they live eternally because- live germs as they were- they had the fortune to find a fecundating matrix, a fantasy which could raise and nourish them: make them live for ever!.” Father, Act I.
“But you don’t see that the whole trouble lies here. In words, words. Each one of us has within him a whole world of things, each man of us his own special world. And how can we ever come to an understanding if I put in the words I utter the sense and value of things as I see them; while you who listen to me must inevitably translate them according to the conception of things each one of you has within himself. We think we understand each other, but we never really do. Look here! This woman (indicating the mother) takes all my pity for her as a specially ferocious form of cruelty.” (Father, Act I.
“For each one of us has his own reality to be respected before God, even when it is harmful to one’s very self.” (Father, Act I)
“Excuse me, all of you! Why are you so anxious to destroy in the name of a vulgar, commonplace sense of truth, this reality which comes to birth attracted and formed by the magic of the stage itself, which has indeed more right to live here than you, since it is much truer than you- if you don’t mind my saying so?” Father, Act II)
“Louder? Louder? What are you talking about? These aren’t matters which can be shouted at the top of one’s voice. If I have spoken them out loud, it was to shame him and have my revenge. But for Madame, it’s quite a different matter.” (Step-Daughter, Act II)
I just love the fact that Pirandello plays with so many concepts in this play. Reality, creativity, the connection between art and reality, truth, illusion. It’s all here in this play.
A couple things to talk about in this one.
First of all, I simply loved the absolute absurdity in the play. The idea that a group of characters would invade a theater looking for their author is brilliant. I mean brilliant. How did Pirandello come up with that idea? And not only did they invade the theater, they are not docile but combative and bombastic. The “real people” in this play completely fade into the background except perhaps the manager and even he is a pale shade in comparison with the characters.
The philosophy in this play is ever present, which I certainly enjoyed. The father is a veritable walking bombastic sophist. He is constantly spouting things. He is probably the central character in this play and drives the action with his constant soap box. The play is really just about the Father, the step-daughter and the manager. Everyone else fades into the background.
I also loved the fact that reality is viewed not as something solid and substantial but something completely impartial and based on the individual. (Isn’t that Heisenberg’s law or something like that) We have that scene where the father and the step-daughter are talking about when they first met up at the brothel of sorts. (Step-Daughter:“Almost in time!” Father: “No, in time, in time!”)
Okay; I guess that’s it for now. Very good play. Read it. Love it! Oh, and lot’s of quotes. It’s one of those plays where I want to underline everything,
“Oh, sir, you know well that life is full of infinite absurdities, which, strangely enough, do not even need to appear plausible since they are true.” Father, Act I.
“In the sense, that is, that the author who created us alive no longer wished, or was no longer able, materially to put us into a work of art. And this was a real crime, sir; because he who has had the lock to be born a character can laugh even at death. He cannot die. The man, the writer, the instrument of the creation will die, but his creation does not die. And to live for ever, it does not need to have extraordinary gifts or to be able to work wonders. Who was Sancho Panza? WQho was Don Abbondio? Yet they live eternally because- live germs as they were- they had the fortune to find a fecundating matrix, a fantasy which could raise and nourish them: make them live for ever!.” Father, Act I.
“But you don’t see that the whole trouble lies here. In words, words. Each one of us has within him a whole world of things, each man of us his own special world. And how can we ever come to an understanding if I put in the words I utter the sense and value of things as I see them; while you who listen to me must inevitably translate them according to the conception of things each one of you has within himself. We think we understand each other, but we never really do. Look here! This woman (indicating the mother) takes all my pity for her as a specially ferocious form of cruelty.” (Father, Act I.
“For each one of us has his own reality to be respected before God, even when it is harmful to one’s very self.” (Father, Act I)
“Excuse me, all of you! Why are you so anxious to destroy in the name of a vulgar, commonplace sense of truth, this reality which comes to birth attracted and formed by the magic of the stage itself, which has indeed more right to live here than you, since it is much truer than you- if you don’t mind my saying so?” Father, Act II)
“Louder? Louder? What are you talking about? These aren’t matters which can be shouted at the top of one’s voice. If I have spoken them out loud, it was to shame him and have my revenge. But for Madame, it’s quite a different matter.” (Step-Daughter, Act II)
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