Italian Tales: An Anthology of Contemporary Italian Fiction

✍ Scribed by Massimo Riva (editor)

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 292
• Category: Library

✦ 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
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Prologue. Consuming the View
Part I. Ruins with a View
The Keeper of Ruins
Zardino
The Self-Awareness of the Labyrinth
Lost Road
Part II. Memory Lanes
The Penumbra We Have Crossed
On the Neverending Terrace
The Piazza
Great Bear, Little Bear
Part III. Vanishing Points
Windswept Lane
Reaching Dew Point
Montedidio
Leo’s World
Part IV. Views from Afar
The Sea Voyage of Baron Mandralisca
Melodrama
From the Diary of Baron Scarpia
The Day of Thanksgiving
Epilogue. Leave-taking
Credits