Henry IV by Luigi Pirandello

In this modern classic, Pirandello depicts the compelling story of an Italian aristocrat who suffers amnesia after a severe fall in an equestrian escapade. He wakes up thinking he is Henry IV of the German Holy Roman Empire. Modern psychiatry bursts violently into this world of masquerade and illusion when his friends permit a less-than-expert psychologist to conduct a peculiar “shock treatment” involving medieval portraits that transform themselves into living figures, a disastrous experiment.