Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Foreword vi
3. Preface ix
4. Contents xi
5. INTRODUCTION
6. I Pirandello in the Tradition of Italian Letters 3
7. II Pirandello, Man and Artist 10
8. III Pirandello's Philosophy of Life 26
9. PART ONE: IN THE WAKE OF NATURALISM
10. IV Introduction 43
11. V Humble Themes of Sicilian Life 49
12. VI Painful Mirth and Tragedy Make Their Entrance 63
13. VII A Humorist Looks at Virtue 74
14. PART TWO: THE DRAMA OF BEING AND SEEMING
15. VIII Introduction 89
16. IX The Blinding Effects of Truth 95
17. X Illusion and Heroism 104
18. XI The Tumult of Life and the Aloofness of Concepts 112
19. XII The Many Faceted Prism of Truth 120
20. XIII Changing Character of Human Opinions 129
21. XIV The Beauty of a Lie 141
22. XV Madness as the Only Refuge 150
23. XVI Dualism of Personality 160
24. XVII In the Realm of Mystery 170
25. PART THREE: SOCIAL PLAYS 181
26. XVIII Introduction 183
27. XIX The Strange Adventures of Lady Honesty 187
28. XX Where the Law Cannot Reach 199
29. XXI Impossibility of a Perfect Human Society 206
30. XXII Resurrection and Immortality 211
31. PART FOUR: THE DRAMA OF WOMANHOOD
32. XXIII Introduction 223
33. XXIV The Turmoil of the Irrational 226
34. XXV The Form and Substance of Matrimony 234
35. XXVI The Purifying Force of Motherhood 240
36. XXVII The Power of Passive Resistance 246
37. XXVIII The Loneliness of the Lofty 255
38. XXIX Where the Children Are, There Is the Home 262
39. XXX A Mystic Interpretation of Parenthood 271
40. XXXI Only Illusion Can Conquer Death 276
41. PART FIVE: ART AND LIFE
42. XXXII Introduction 287
43. XXXIII Art Does But Dwarf a Tragic Life 291
44. XXXIV A Play in the Making 303
45. XXXV Life Rebels Against the Fixity of Art 311
46. XXXVI Renunciation 319
47. XXXVII The Misery of Fame 329
48. Conclusion 339
49. Bibliography 345