Abstract
AT THE END OF WORLD WAR II the plays of Eduardo De Filippo, a Neapolitan writer, began to attract not only the audiences and readers in Italy but also those abroad. Eric Bentley and Lander MacCintock wrote briefly on him; and a few years ago Thornton Wilder stated that De Filippo was his favorite contemporary dramatic author. Previously De Filippo had been known mainly as a comic actor whose plays were considered as vehicles for his acting. In fact, when in 1955 Theatre Arts devoted an issue to the Italian theater, he was treated chiefly as an actor. This is, however, no longer the case. After reading and studying his drama, one may well believe that a new voice and a great playwright has arisen. The maschera of a new Pulcinella has fallen, and the humor has turned to grave considerations of. the problems of life, not only in Naples but also in the universe. As Pirandello forsook his Sicilian characteristics in favor of universal concepts, and as Di Giacomo left the Neapolitan environment for a wider world, so De Filippo progressed from presentations of local Neapolitan foibles to profound reflections on man's problems.
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