Translator's introduction -- Preface -- The revenge of the dog -- The cat, a goldfinch, and the stars -- The jar -- Donna Mimma -- The dearly departed -- Two double beds -- Night -- Nené and Ninì -- A breath of air -- Faith -- Seeing as it's not raining ... -- A "goy" -- When you understand -- The light in the other house -- Swift and swallow -- Mrs. Frola and her son-in-law Mr. Ponza -- The bat -- The raven of Mìzzaro -- The waiting coffin -- Romulus -- The Cathar heresy -- The little black goat -- Prancing -- The fly -- On the mark -- The little fan -- The brazier -- Dirge -- On his own -- In the evening, a geranium -- List of Italian titles and publication dates.
Summary:
A masterful collection by a literary giant of the past century, rendered by one of our most esteemed Italian translators Regarded as one of Europe's great modernists, Pirandello was also a master storyteller, a fine observer of the drama of daily life with a remarkable sense of the crushing burdens of class, gender, and social conventions. Set in the author's birthplace of Sicily, where the arid terrain and isolated villages map the fragile interior world of his characters, and in Rome, where modern life threatens centuries-old traditions, these original stories are sun baked with the deep lore of Italian folktales. In "The Jar," a broken earthenware pot pits its owner, a quarrelsome landholder, against a clever inventor of a mysterious glue. "The Dearly Departed" tells the story of a young widow and her new husband on their honeymoon, haunted at every turn by the sly visage of the deceased. The scorned lover, the despondent widow, the intransigent bureaucrat, the wretched peasant--Pirandello's characters expose the human condition in all its fatalism, injustice, and raw beauty. For lovers of Calvino and Pasolini, these picturesque stories preserve a memory of an Italy long gone, but one whose recurring concerns still speak to us today.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.