Now i feel even dumber, as i own but have not read that book!
― like Uber, but for underpants (James Morrison), Thursday, 17 March 2016 11:06 (eight years ago) link
Had an idea to poll off-the-classics-lists from the 19th century. Totally arbitrary list -will have to read and put that in if I like it.
This looks so much more interesting than Manzoni but I'm indie like that.
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 17 March 2016 12:12 (eight years ago) link
Hey, xyzzzz, I found that I had that Parks/Nievo article you wanted to read, so I uploaded it here: www.scribd.com/doc/305150648/Tim-Parks-Ippolito-Nievo
― like Uber, but for underpants (James Morrison), Thursday, 17 March 2016 22:38 (eight years ago) link
Thanks James! ha, Parks compares it to Manzoni at the end.
― xyzzzz__, Friday, 18 March 2016 09:05 (eight years ago) link
New Morante - the world needs it: http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/W/bo25015883.html
― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 11 May 2016 22:35 (seven years ago) link
Ferdinando Camon's trilogy "The Fifth Estate" / "Memorial" / "Life Everlasting" is my current Italian tip. The absence of matching English editions of the three is a matter of great regret IMO.
― Tim, Thursday, 12 May 2016 15:23 (seven years ago) link
The Morante sounds very exciting: I've been meaning to read her for a long time, but I'm not sure where best to start.
― one way street, Thursday, 12 May 2016 15:49 (seven years ago) link
This + Alexiviech are the most exciting new bks in a while
ows - def Arturo's Island if you can get hold of the out of print copy (did via my library). Arcoeli is on Open Letter and I was talking to someone abt it on twitter as she was raving about it (its how I found out about this). Historia was good at the time and is disappointing when set against her other fiction.
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 12 May 2016 18:07 (seven years ago) link
I just read "The Unseen" by Nanni Balestrini and it's a fierce novel of (and from) the Autonomia movement of the 70s/80s, brutal, angry, upsetting and highly recommended.
― Tim, Wednesday, 22 June 2016 08:47 (seven years ago) link
Yet to pick up.
Lads lads: http://www.nyrb.com/collections/forthcoming/products/ernesto?variant=30483108743
http://www.nyrb.com/collections/forthcoming/products/a_family_lexicon?variant=1094928849
Read the Ginzburg in the old translation and its fkn great. Saba is unknown to me and I'm excited.
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 20 September 2016 21:55 (seven years ago) link
(I get that Ann Goldstein is possibly too boringly literary). Maybe somewhere, but not in the Neapolitan Novels.
― dow, Tuesday, 20 September 2016 22:37 (seven years ago) link
Review of A Family Lexicon
Got to read this fantatsic piece on Elsa Mornate at the weekend. Not just a review of that book but a beautiful overview of all her works and the little of crit published in English. A must.
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 10 April 2017 21:33 (seven years ago) link
So I called Gadda showy for Acquainted with Grief above in the William Weaver translation but now I see Experience of Pain is coming out (I assume its a re-translation as it has a similar set-up, words in either title amount to same).
― xyzzzz__, Friday, 17 November 2017 11:06 (six years ago) link
I have that, but having read several other demented books recently i am waiting until the balance of my mind is restored before tackling ut
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Sunday, 19 November 2017 07:45 (six years ago) link
Terrific piece on Bassani:
https://harpers.org/archive/2019/02/giorgio-bassani-the-novel-of-ferrara-review/
I haven't tackled this piece on Elsa Morante but will do so later:
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/02/07/elsa-morante-disillusionist/
― xyzzzz__, Friday, 25 January 2019 09:00 (five years ago) link
And I need to read some Bassani - its a gap.
Just been reading him, so thanks for that!
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Friday, 25 January 2019 21:38 (five years ago) link
ah yeah I saw that.
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 26 January 2019 11:11 (five years ago) link
― Tim, Wednesday, 22 June 2016 08:47 (two years ago) Permalink
Just seen on my twitter that he has passed away today
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 20 May 2019 10:42 (four years ago) link
RIP. I don't stop recommending that book, though I'm not sure anyone has ever read it as a result of my recommendation.
― Tim, Monday, 20 May 2019 11:38 (four years ago) link
Gotta say fiction around the struggle are a bit underwhelming to me (Victor Serge is probably best but there are a lot of other things in his fiction as well).
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 20 May 2019 11:51 (four years ago) link
Well I agree but this one stands out (and I've only read a bit of Serge but found "The Unseen" even more affecting - it really is unbelievably good.
― Tim, Monday, 20 May 2019 18:16 (four years ago) link
Cool, will order
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 07:48 (four years ago) link
You're welcome to borrow mine, then I won't feel guilty if you don't like it!
― Tim, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 08:50 (four years ago) link
Haha would've been fine either way but I was thinking of asking you. Cool will mail you sometime this week to arrange :)
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 10:13 (four years ago) link
Nice enough account of the latest translations of Ginzburg's quietly tragic books:
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/07/18/natalia-ginzburg-driest-eye/
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 20 July 2019 13:40 (four years ago) link
I really enjoyed this article - the book plots it describes are wonderful. https://t.co/ZDsoD0ObEf— Laura Waddell (@lauraewaddell) December 17, 2020
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 17 December 2020 23:36 (three years ago) link
This piece on Roberto Calasso is pretty great
https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/the-sorcerer
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 7 September 2021 21:12 (two years ago) link
Nice piece on Frederika Randall, an American-born translator of Italian lit.
https://nybooks.com/articles/2021/09/23/frederika-randall-emissary-of-italian-prose/
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 25 September 2021 06:37 (two years ago) link
I was compiling a list of wants (its getting small as I think I am running out of stuff I am interested in reading) and came across this. The Charles Rosen foreword caught my eye.
https://www.nyrb.com/collections/classics/products/memoirs-of-lorenzo-da-ponte?variant=1094930221
Also, NYRB are issuing Elsa Morante's first novel next year.
https://www.nyrb.com/collections/forthcoming/products/lies-and-sorcery?variant=42438724681896
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 26 July 2022 12:01 (one year ago) link
oh wow. I'm a huge morante fan, that's giant news for me
― J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Tuesday, 26 July 2022 12:04 (one year ago) link
That would mean all her novels have had at least one complete translation into English.
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 26 July 2022 12:40 (one year ago) link
yeah it's a giant deal. finding a copy of arturo's island at the cincinnati public library when I did an event there was a big deal to me -- copies on alibris were prohibitively expensive & they let me take it home for later return. it's good, Aracoeli was my entry point so it'll probably always be my favorite.
― J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Tuesday, 26 July 2022 12:47 (one year ago) link
Though History was my first by her I think Aracoeli is my favourite, it's such a strange, one kind of a book (just ahead of Arturo, I took out the old translation from the library too. I should get the new translation)
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 26 July 2022 12:53 (one year ago) link
Important essay on Natalia Ginzburg's politics, and how her adoption as a feminist writer isn't a straightforward matter.
Natalia Ginzburg wrote brilliant fiction, but she was also deeply involved in Italian left-wing politics. From abortion to adoption laws, and feminism to her conception of her Jewish identity – I wrote about her politics for @VersoBooks https://t.co/7ll6DzOaHb pic.twitter.com/67e7driLcs— Francesca Peacock (@cesca_peacock) July 28, 2022
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 31 July 2022 11:03 (one year ago) link
I read Voices in the Evening last year and immediately bought everything of hers I could get my hands on, she's amazing
― J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Sunday, 31 July 2022 14:13 (one year ago) link
Yes, I remember hearing about her through my love for Pavese, checking her out - got everything out of the library that I could and delighted that this revival has taken hold. It doesn't matter that Ginzburg and Morante are being marketed in a post-Ferrante world, its great to see.
I also would like to see a similar piece written on Sciasca's political career.
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 6 August 2022 11:30 (one year ago) link
Campo's essays sound really interesting.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/soul-aristocrats-trela
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 25 April 2024 23:10 (one week ago) link