SOURCE: "Life and Form in Pirandello's Short Prose: An Existential Atmosphere," in Revista/Review Interamericana, Vol. 9, No. 4, 1979-80, pp. 615-21.

In the following essay, Finch perceives in Pirandello's short fiction a tension between the spontaneity of life and the boundaries—both social and psychological—that humans impose upon themselves.

It would be difficult to determine what influence if any Pirandello had on the modern existentialists. However, there can be no doubt that he must be considered a precursor of the modern literary men who propound this philosophy. Thomas Bishop and Erminio G. Neglia both note that Pirandello exemplifies much of the chaos, anxiety, grief and absurdity so central to existential thought [Bishop, Pirandello and the French Theater, 1960; Neglia, Pirandello y la dramática rioplatense, 1970]. Pirandello himself has said [in his essay "On Humor"] that "life is a changing equilibrium, a continuous awakening and slumbering of feelings, tendencies and...