One, No One, and One Hundred Thousand (Eridanos Library)

Admirers of Pirandello's plays will be grateful for the new translation of the author's 1926 novel, "One, No One, and One Hundred Thousand," for it illuminates the background of Pirandello's theatrical works.The novel includes similar legerdemain; the reader observes the author playing with time, people and places. It reflects his cross-eyed way of looking at life and society, later seen in his major plays, "Six Characters in Search of an Author," "As You Desire Me" and "Tonight We Improvise."
The central character in the novel, a small-town squire, looks in the mirror one day, touches a nostril and feels some pain. His wife tells him his nose tilts to the right, something he had not realized before. Catching sight of his reflection in the mirror again, he concludes that he possesses different personalities. So begins a search to discover his various selves. After a series of bizarre incidents, he is deserted by his wife and is declared insane. The court gives his money to a poorhouse; he becomes its first guest. In the poorhouse, he becomes the "no one"of the book's title.
By being no one, the squire becomes everyone. He can be reborn again and again. "I am I and you are you," the squire, speaking as the first-person narrator of the novel, declares. In the end, he says: "I no longer look at myself in the mirror, and it never even occurs to me to want to know what has happened to my face and to my whole appearance. The one I had for the others must have seemed greatly changed and in a very comical way, judging by the wonder and the laughter that greeted me."
Trying to explain a Pirandello plot is like trying to catch a tiger by the tail or walking with Vulcan on the lava of Mount Etna: dangerous. Put it this way: "One, No One, and One Hundred Thousand" is Pirandellian...

A book that blows you away. Why? Well, Mr. Pirandello's novel is one of those that will make you doubt about who you are for years. This is the book I would pick up if I were asked to choose only the one novel which has taught me the most about life. It's not an easy read, but, don't worry, whenever you see yourself not understanding, there will be something telling you that it's OK, because that it's the point: to open your mind in order for you to learn about yourself; otherwise, frustration won't let you enjoy and appreciate this novel.

Am I who I really think I am? Nope, that is just one of the one hundred thousand sides that make up the whole of you. These sides are the many versions of yourself, which can only be seen by the people around you. You can only see your own version of yourself, but is this your true self? No one really knows, not even you. After reading this book, all I was sure is that nothing in this world is objective. Life is just an illusion. An illusion that changes with time as our perceptions sharpen up or as we allow our dogmas and belief to be flexible in a world where absolutely nothing is stiff or one sided.

Rarely a soliloquy is so interesting and fun to read. Pirandello has masterfully achieved both. This is the story of man searching through his monologues to find out himself as seen by others and as he assumes he really is wihout what he has assumed all his life. Each brief chapter is a exploration of the different aspects of the man's reality, examined now from a detached position. The reflections are serious and profound, but they keep a good sense of humor through out the whole narrative. It is a recommended reading for anybody.

This book was listed as "Used - Good"

I will only be able to read this book once because each page falls out of the binding as I turn it.

Great book so far, but this book should have not been sold and thrown away instead.