SOURCE: The Virginia Quarterly Review, Vol. 1, No. 1, April, 1925, pp. 36-52.

The following is a translation of Pirandello's preface to Six Characters.

I had to, to escape from … well, that is what I am going to explain.

As I have written elsewhere, the lively little maid-servant who for years and years now (though it seems as though it were only since yesterday) has been waiting on my writing, is for all that not so new at her work. She is often of a somewhat scornful and jesting humor, this Fantasia of mine. If, now and then, she is of a humor to dress in black, there is no denying that her solemn apparel is often extremely odd. But if you think that this is her usual style of dress, you are very much mistaken. Time and time again I've seen her put her hand in her pocket and pull...