Great Italian Short Stories of the Twentieth Century / I grandi racconti italiani del Novecento: A Dual-Language Book

by Jacob Blakesley (editor)

This anthology highlights the rich range of modern Italian fiction, presenting the first English translations of works by many famous authors. Contents include fables and stories by Italo Calvino, Elsa Morante, Alberto Moravia, and Cesare Pavese; historical fiction by Leonardo Sciascia and Mario Rigoni Stern; and little-known tales by Luigi Pirandello and Carlo Emilio Gadda.
No further apparatus or reference is necessary for the self-contained text. Appropriate for high school and college courses as well as self-study, this volume will prove a fine companion for teachers and intermediate-level students of Italian language and literature as well as readers wishing to brush up on their language skills.

Genres: Short Stories

272 pages, Paperback

First published February 20, 2013

Reviews

[Alan]

No I'm not learning Italian, it's just I wanted a book of Italian stories and this is what the library had. Just reading the English translations.

[Anna]

Surprisingly difficult read for learning Italian. Highly recommend for the advanced Italian learner.

[Marisa Ghirlandi]

Gifted it to my bf who’s learning Italian, but ended up reading it myself - beautiful collection of short stories by some of our best writers.

[Ira GdB]

The presentation and organization of this book made it very easy and enjoyable to interact with. I like that the stories were presented chronologically instead of by theme/topic, it made it easier for me to understand the historical context as well as make my own assumptions about the way language and culture changed as the century progressed. The author's blurbs at the beginning of each story were concise and informative. My one regret is that the stories chosen didn't necessarily seem indicative of their respective author's work as a whole. If this was intentional, well, so be it, but the selection does seem a bit fringe. My limited Italian means that I can't speak to the quality of translation, but this was a gift from an Italian, so I'm assuming it checks that box...