Man Is Strong

by Corrado Alvaro

AUTHOR'S NOTE
The original title of this book was Fear Over the World, and this was carried over into several translations. The censorship of the Fascist Italian government did not approve and insisted that it be changed. At this time, however, the government was making overtures to literary circles, and so finally a more lenient official was assigned to reading it, who demanded no more than the omission of some twenty pages. The author refused these terms and gave up the idea of publication. Eventually the omission was reduced to twenty lines and the author was asked to write a foreword to the book, explaining that the scene was laid in Russia. This he did. Italian critics treated the book with caution; abroad, several reviewers showed a clear understanding of its purpose. The German censorship forbade it completely. A preface, which the Italian censor cut out, stated that the
the book pictured a frame of mind widespread wherever man was oppressed in recent years, when fear held all of us in its clutches.
This new edition is a faithful reprinting of those which preceded it. The lines suppressed by the censor were unimportant and to reinstate them would be useless and pretentious. This notice is intended merely to clarify the author's aim in writing the book.

231 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1949

About the author

Corrado Alvaro was an Italian journalist and writer of novels, short stories, screenplays and plays. He often used the verismo style to describes the hopeless poverty in his native Calabria. His first success was Gente in Aspromonte (Revolt in Aspromonte), which examined the exploitation of rural peasants by greedy landowners in Calabria, and is considered by many critics to be his masterpiece.