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Le Strade: Short Stories
Written during the 1920s, when the author was in her 50's, the short pieces in this collection are sketches of the women and men that Ada Negri met or observed during her travels around Italy and Switzerland. After her beloved daughter Bianca married and Negri's own marriage had broken down, the writer began a life of wandering that led to a stay of several years on Capri and extended visits to Lago Maggiore and the northern Italian countryside. As we travel with Negri, we meet waitresses and tourists, bohemians and noblemen, office clerks and builders, servants and celebrities. As always, Negri is focused on class distinctions, women's interactions, and the domestic sphere. As she travels and sees the different ways others live, Negri expresses her forever-unfullfilled longing to find a place to settle down and belong. These stories give the reader a unique glimpse into the lives of early 20th century Italians from all walks of life. Translated into crisp and evocative English, this collection will bring new readers to an appreciation of Ada Negri and will inspire a new generation of Negri enthusiasts.
250 pages, Paperback
First published August 6, 2013
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About the author
Ada Negri
135 books7 followersAda Negri was born in Lodi, Italy into an artisan family to Giuseppe Negri alongside his wife Vittoria Cornalba. She attended Lodi’s Normal School for Girls and earned an elementary teacher’s diploma. At eighteen, she took a position as schoolteacher in the village of Motta Visconti, on the Ticino, near Pavia. Her first volume of lyrics, Fatalità, (1892) confirmed her reputation as a poet, and led to her appointment to the normal school at Milan. Her second book of poems, Tempeste (1896), tells the helpless tragedy of the forsaken poor.
On 28 March 1896, she married industrialist Giovanni Garlanda of Biella, who had fallen in love with her from reading her poetry. By 1904 they had daughters, Bianca and Vittoria. The latter died in infancy. In 1913, Negri separated from her husband and moved to Switzerland with Bianca. Afterwards, she constantly moved. She was a frequent visitor to Laglio on Lake Como, where she wrote her only novel, an autobiographical work, Stella Mattutina (Morning Star), published in 1921, and in English in 1930. During an extended stay on Capri that began in March 1923, she wrote I canti dell'isola.
She became the first woman member of the Italian Academy in 1940. That achievement, however, also stained her later reputation since members of the Academy had to swear loyalty to the Fascist regime and were rewarded by it with various material benefits. On 11 January 1945, her daughter Bianca found Negri dead in her studio in Milan. She was 74 years old.
Her work was widely translated during her lifetime, with individual poems published in newspaper in the U.S. and elsewhere.
The actress Pola Negri (born Barbara Apolonia Chałupec), adopted the stage surname "Negri" in emulation of the poet. The actress Paola Pezzaglia was the ideal interpreter of her poetry on stage.
On 28 March 1896, she married industrialist Giovanni Garlanda of Biella, who had fallen in love with her from reading her poetry. By 1904 they had daughters, Bianca and Vittoria. The latter died in infancy. In 1913, Negri separated from her husband and moved to Switzerland with Bianca. Afterwards, she constantly moved. She was a frequent visitor to Laglio on Lake Como, where she wrote her only novel, an autobiographical work, Stella Mattutina (Morning Star), published in 1921, and in English in 1930. During an extended stay on Capri that began in March 1923, she wrote I canti dell'isola.
She became the first woman member of the Italian Academy in 1940. That achievement, however, also stained her later reputation since members of the Academy had to swear loyalty to the Fascist regime and were rewarded by it with various material benefits. On 11 January 1945, her daughter Bianca found Negri dead in her studio in Milan. She was 74 years old.
Her work was widely translated during her lifetime, with individual poems published in newspaper in the U.S. and elsewhere.
The actress Pola Negri (born Barbara Apolonia Chałupec), adopted the stage surname "Negri" in emulation of the poet. The actress Paola Pezzaglia was the ideal interpreter of her poetry on stage.
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April 19, 2022
Perché leggere questa breve raccolta di bozzetti e ritratti? Più in generale, perché leggere una raccolta di bozzetti di un autore? Perché si può meglio apprezzare il suo stile, coglierne i sentimenti e, soprattutto, la straordinaria capacità di scorgere un universo multisfaccettato anche dietro gli episodi apparentemente più semplici.
Displaying 1 of 1 review