Tales of Suicide

Book excerpt: Suicide, the act of killing oneself voluntarily and intentionally, is clearly one of the most important themes developed by Pirandello during his long literary career. Although he never focused on self-destruction as an end in itself, he made ample use of it to dramatise his tragic view of the human condition. Indeed, this theme recurs with astonishing frequency in his short stories, play and novels. It even appears sporadically in his poetry.