Book
The Penguin book of Italian short stories
Call Number
- FICTION PENG (CEN)
Languages
Translated from the Italian.
Publication Information
London : Penguin Books, 2019.
Physical Description
xxiii, 492 pages ; 24 cm
Summary
When Jhumpa Lahiri decided to read exclusively in Italian, a language she had studied for many years, her life as a reader - and writer - took a surprising turn. Complete immersion in this rich literary heritage brought fresh insight and unexpected freedom. This collection brings together forty writers that have shaped her love of the Italian language and profound appreciation for its literature. More than half of the stories featured in this volume have been translated into English for the first time and the wide ranging selection includes well known authors such as Italo Calvino, Elsa Morante and Luigi Pirandello, alongside many captivating rediscoveries. The writers that inhabit these pages represent a dynamic cross section of Italian society. Together they reflect over a hundred years of Italy's vibrant and diverse short story tradition, their powerful voices resonating through regional landscapes, private passions and the dramatic political events of the twentieth century.
Contents
- Name and tears / Picturesque lives / The siren / Against time / Generous wine / The long voyage / Bago / The hen / The lady / The tower / The trap / Melancholy / Silence / A pair of eyeglasses / The other side of the moon / The ambitious ones / Sixteen, twenty-one, twenty-eight and thirty seven from Centuria / Quaestio de centauris / Gogol's wife / My husband / The mother / A Martian in Rome / The smell of death / Life as a couple / The milliner / The hind / Invitation to dinner / Elegy for Signora Nodier / Malpasso / At the station / The golden nut / Dialogue with a tortoise / And yet they are knocking at your door / The miraculous beach, or, Prize for modesty / A geographical error / The streetwalker / Miss / The baboon / Barefoot