Chapter 26 - Celebrity

Summary

This chapter explores Pirandello’s idiosyncratic relationship with fame by attempting to separate the artist and the man. Pirandello’s alleged unpretentious behavior and apparent dismissiveness often clashed with his fervent desire to be appreciated and recognized for his exceptional talent. Beginning with Pirandello’s relationship with the press and the political powers ruling Italy at that time, this chapter discusses the artist’s apprehension about the lure of fame and its corrosive effect on his true self. Likewise, in his fictional works Pirandello dramatized his own concerns about creating an artistic persona while attempting to tame the creative compulsion that often jarred his preoccupation with greatness. If at one point his celebrity status seemed to have become a burden and not even exile proved to be the cure to his resentment, Pirandello took refuge in his art, the only ambivalent space where his thirst for recognition could coexist with his awareness of the drawbacks of being famous.