Luigi Pirandello

Italian writer with a keen awareness of the frustration and conflicts of values. An outstanding novelist, his most noted work was Padre Padrone. He won the 1934 Nobel Prize in literature for "his almost magical power to turn psychological analysis into good theatre." His best-known plays are Six Characters in Search of an Author (1921) and Enrico IV (Henry IV, 1922).

The son of a mine owner, he studied at universities in Rome and Bonn, where he obtained his doctorate in philology. He settled near Rome in 1893, writing verse, plays, short stories and two novels. He taught at the Normal College for Women in Rome 1897-1921.

Pirandello married Antonietta Portulano in 1894; she became insane but was not committed until just before her death in 1918. He served in the military in the war of 1915.

Pirandello was troubled with stomach problems, tuberculosis and in 1903 had an episode of suicidal depression. He died on 10 December 1936 at age 69 in Rome, Italy.