The Late Mattia Pascal

I liked this more than his other book. It was entertaining though a little bit dry in some places. The narrator is insufferable

Pirandello:“I think that life is a very sad piece of buffoonery; because we have in ourselves, without being able to know why, wherefore or whence, the need to deceive ourselves constantly by creating a reality (one for each and never the same for all), which from time to time is discovered to be vain and illusory. My art is full of bitter compassion for all those who deceive themselves, but this compassion cannot fail to be followed by the ferocious derision of destiny which condemns man to deception.”

THOSE UNFAMILIAR WITH PIRANDELLO WILL BE AMAZED AT THE DEPTH OF HIS WRITING. HE STIMULATES YOUR THINKING AND PRESENTS A FASCINATING PICTURE OF A CONFUSED BUT INTELLIGENT MAN.

This is a classic. Pirandello is a wonderful writer - I grew up reading his Novelle per un Anno, which I enjoyed thoroughly and read several times. Somehow I missed the Late Mattia Pascal - the omission has been now rectified.

I don’t remember what this was about I got it a long time ago but it’s a good price

Pirandello is best known for his plays, but he wrote some excellent short stories, and also novels, such as this comic masterpiece, It's not as modernist as his plays, but the writing is fast, crisp and witty, with some genuinely intriguing characters. I really enjoyed it, and was glad to have discovered it in this excellent translation.

This is an excellent novel, and not only is the content superb, this edition is an absolute pleasure to read. The pages are extremely smooth and the paper is of great quality. It was a true pleasure reading this book.

Dostoevsky writes deeply into the mind of humanity in a way that is both universal and redeeming. This author's effort struck me as entirely self absorbed and unredeemable.

Though the cover is a blurry scan of the NYRB Classics version, this is a cheap copy in an absurdly large paperback format. It has neither page numbers nor the introduction advertised on the cover and is full of spelling mistakes and weird sentence formatting. It is a great novel and deserves a more professional production - better buy the NYRB version. Astonishing that they can rip it off like this.

Interesting reading, I really love this novel and translated version is also very convenient.

Written in quite a beguiling first-person narrative, we follow the adventures of Mattia Pascal; in debt, unhappily married to a depressed wife, and with a witch of a mother-in-law...Then one day, possessed of a small sum of money, he takes off for a bit, tries his hand in a casino, and comes out a rich man. As he plans to return home, he happens to read a newspaper account of a body found in a stream near his home, which has wrongly been identified as himself.Mattia now plans a life of freedom and enjoyment, living on his winnings. Only life isn't as simple as that..."Outside of the law, and without those characteristics which, happy or sad as they may be, make us ourselves, we cannot live."

One of the best books I've ever read.

All fine.