Dramas. New York: York Printing Co., 1909.
Title
Dramas. New York: York Printing Co., 1909.
Description
Flamma's signature is on the copyright page: "This edition is limited to One Thousand copies, each bearing Author's Autograph." One of his volumes of Dramas was issued in New York, in 1909, in a luxurious edition enriched by a letter (little more than a note) from Anatole France, by a note by Prince Trubetzkoy, and a preface in which Felix Rem states that the author “is a keen observer and analyzer of human nature and of the problems which excite the present society.”
The book contains three one-act plays, translated into English: The Queen’s Castle, a philosophical work that “reveals the artificial foundation upon which society has lived and still adheres, and points out very clearly why real happiness is not attainable in our life-time”; Don Luca Sperante (1906), “a vivid portrait of Sicilian character and customs”; The Stranger (1908), the story of an old man forgotten in the world, like an autumnal leaf.
Other dramas by Fiamma are: Piccole anime (Little Souls), in three acts (New York 1912), a middle-class story set in the environs of Milan; La maschera di Amleto (Hamlet’s Mask), 1922, a play in three acts whose English-language version had a short-lived Broadway run in 1921; Dopo la guerra (After the War), 1923); La potenza (Power), 1926; Gli ebrei (The Jews); Suor Maddalena (Sister Magdalene), in three acts; and the one-act All’ ombra della croce (In the Shadow of the Cross). Thanks to Stefano Morello, we know that his real name was Domenico Pignato, that he also published a play in his native Caltanissetta in 1900, Volfango: dramma in quattro atti., under the name Domenico Pignato Audibert, that last part his French mother's maiden name. The play was published by Stabilimento Tipografico Ospizio provinciale di beneficenza of Umberto I, which was the printing press of a provincial charitable institution in Italy named for King Umberto I, in 1900, the very year in which Umberto I was assassinated.
For more details on Flamma's colorful life, see the entries for Fiamme or Italiani di America, enriched greatly by the heroic researches of Stefano Morello.
The book contains three one-act plays, translated into English: The Queen’s Castle, a philosophical work that “reveals the artificial foundation upon which society has lived and still adheres, and points out very clearly why real happiness is not attainable in our life-time”; Don Luca Sperante (1906), “a vivid portrait of Sicilian character and customs”; The Stranger (1908), the story of an old man forgotten in the world, like an autumnal leaf.
Other dramas by Fiamma are: Piccole anime (Little Souls), in three acts (New York 1912), a middle-class story set in the environs of Milan; La maschera di Amleto (Hamlet’s Mask), 1922, a play in three acts whose English-language version had a short-lived Broadway run in 1921; Dopo la guerra (After the War), 1923); La potenza (Power), 1926; Gli ebrei (The Jews); Suor Maddalena (Sister Magdalene), in three acts; and the one-act All’ ombra della croce (In the Shadow of the Cross). Thanks to Stefano Morello, we know that his real name was Domenico Pignato, that he also published a play in his native Caltanissetta in 1900, Volfango: dramma in quattro atti., under the name Domenico Pignato Audibert, that last part his French mother's maiden name. The play was published by Stabilimento Tipografico Ospizio provinciale di beneficenza of Umberto I, which was the printing press of a provincial charitable institution in Italy named for King Umberto I, in 1900, the very year in which Umberto I was assassinated.
For more details on Flamma's colorful life, see the entries for Fiamme or Italiani di America, enriched greatly by the heroic researches of Stefano Morello.
Creator
Ario Flamma
Publisher
York Printing Co.
Date
1909
Format
24 x 16.5cm; 318 p.
Language
Italian
Citation
Ario Flamma, “Dramas. New York: York Printing Co., 1909.,” Italian-Language American Imprints: The Periconi Collection, accessed December 15, 2025, https://italianamericanimprints.omeka.net/items/show/171.
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