Six Characters in Search of an Author
by Luigi Pirandello · Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1921
- Form
- Drama
- Language
- Italian
- Length
- Short · 70 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendSix Characters in Search of an Author and Other Plays, translated by Mark MusaPenguin Classics, 1996A clear modern translation that includes Pirandello's preface, which explains where the characters came from.
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A theatre company is rehearsing when six people interrupt and announce that they are characters from an unfinished play, abandoned by the author who imagined them, and that they need someone to put their story on stage. They tell it in pieces and in contradiction: a husband who sent his wife away, her three children by another man, and the Stepdaughter he almost bought from Madame Pace without knowing her. The actors try to perform what the characters describe and get it wrong, the characters object that no actor can be them, and the rehearsal ends in a real drowning and a gunshot that nobody can say were real.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Six Characters in Search of an Author are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
