The haunting past: shadows in Italian modernism

Imagine something following you around everywhere you go. Sometimes it is bigger than you, and sometimes it is smaller. The brighter the day is, the darker it will be. Only in true darkness does it not exist. From different angles its form can alter, and you can never outrun it, though it will always be close to you. If you haven’t figured out what dreadful illusion I am talking about, then prepare. Because what I am describing is your own shadow. It is an interesting and curious object, because you can neither take hold of it nor touch it. This story will follow the shadow in the literary work Il fu Mattia Pascal by Luigi Pirandello.