Six Characters in Search of an Author

<p><strong>Winner of the Nobel Prize in 1934, Luigi Pirandello was one of the most original and powerful dramatists of his time&mdash;the playwright <em>par excellence</em> of the conflict between illusion and reality. His plays dramatize with force and eloquence the loneliness and isolation of the individual both from society and from himself.</strong></p> <p>In <em>Six Characters in Search of an Author</em>, his greatest work, these themes are played out with characteristic brilliance. First performed in 1921, the play concerns six living characters&mdash;family members embroiled in their own human drama&mdash;who come to a theater and demand that the manager and his actors stage their life story. Filled with both humor and despair, <em>Six Characters in Search of an Author</em> is Pirandello's most extraordinary achievement&mdash;as it explores the fundamentally absurd and tragic nature of the human condition.</p> <p><strong>This Signet Classic edition includes an introduction by Eric Bentley, the widely acclaimed writer, translator, and international theater authority.</strong></p>