Italian tales: an anthology of contemporary Italian fiction

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Year: 2004
• Leaves: 293
• Category: Fiction

✦ Synopsis

This anthology serves as a literary map to guide readers through the varied geography of contemporary Italian fiction. Massimo Riva has gathered English-language translations of short stories and excerpts from novels that were originally published in Italian between 1975 and 2001. As an expression of a communal contemporary condition, these narratives suggest a new sensibility and a new way of seeing, exploring, and inhabiting the world, in writing.Riva provides a comprehensive introduction to Italian literary trends of the past twenty years. Each selection is preceded by a short introduction and biography of the writer. For English-language readers who are familiar with the work of Italo Calvino and Umberto Eco, this collection presents an opportunity to acquaint themselves with the work of other important contemporary Italian writers of fiction.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents......Page 6
Acknowledgments......Page 10
Introduction Mapping Contemporary Italian Fiction......Page 12
prologue......Page 34
Consuming the View......Page 36
part i • Ruins with a View......Page 42
The Keeper of Ruins......Page 44
Zardino......Page 54
The Self-Awareness of the Labyrinth......Page 73
Lost Road......Page 94
part ii • Memory Lanes......Page 110
The Penumbra We Have Crossed......Page 112
On the Neverending Terrace......Page 123
The Piazza......Page 133
Great Bear, Little Bear......Page 150
part iii • Vanishing Points......Page 160
Windswept Lane......Page 162
Reaching Dew Point......Page 177
Montedidio......Page 190
Leo’s World......Page 201
part iv • Views from Afar......Page 218
The Sea Voyage of Baron Mandralisca......Page 220
Melodrama......Page 234
From the Diary of Baron Scarpia......Page 243
The Day of Thanksgiving......Page 254
epilogue......Page 276
Leave-taking......Page 278
Credits......Page 290