SOURCE: "Pirandello's Notion of Time," in Canadian Journal of Italian Studies, Vol. 12, Nos. 38-9, 1989, pp. 26-31.

In the following excerpt, Chomel discusses Pirandello's treatment of the theme of time in several of his short stories.

The Pirandellian man, trapped in the flux of time, condemned to endure an incessant chain of transformations, vainly tries to resist time and fix himself in a lasting form. Institutions, traditions, social masks, even prejudices and hypocrisy are but devices he uses in his attempt to stop the flow of time. The time motif punctuates Pirandello's writings from the poetic beginning to the last plays, in different forms and various degrees of intensity. . . .

The novelle, being the result of direct observation of life, communicate to the reader a peculiar sensation of immediacy and authenticity. They are instantaneous pictures of a chaotic reality, inhabited by a variety of individuals caught in a particular moment...