M. Robinson Replies To The Notion That Chekhov's Characters ‘Are Forever Conquered By Life', ‘Adelphi'

In a recent review of Professor Starkie's ‘Luigi Pirandello’ in the ‘New Statesman’ there occurred a remark which for me threw a light on a question which has long puzzled me. ‘Pirandello,’ says the reviewer, ‘at any rate is in the right tradition, the tradition more recently of Ibsen and Chekhov. Only, while Chekhov's characters are for ever conquered by life, Pirandello's do at least protest.’