title: A Pirandellian perspective on suicide.
abstract: Suicide continues to be a major public health problem internationally. Nobel Laureate Luigi Pirandello wrote about the topic of suicide extensively in his various plays, novels, and short stories. This essay draws on these sources to portray the different kinds of unbearable situations in which individuals find themselves and where the only solution perceived to be of any value whatsoever is to commit suicide. Reference is made to the vicissitudes of Pirandello's own life as well as influences from literature and opera that helped to attract him to this topic.
authors.affiliation: Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions, Washington, DC 20015, USA. thomas@asaph.org
authors.forename: Thomas W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Elwood