#ItalianLitMonth n.24: Convivial Poems by Giovanni Pascoli and the Podcast “An Ancient Language for a Modern Soul”

Posted on by Leah Janeczko

by Elena Borelli Giovanni Pascoli (1855–1912) is celebrated as a pioneer of modern Italian poetry, and has been hailed by Seamus Heaney as “one of the greatest poets of all times”. Reflecting the spirit of late 19th-century Italy, his works are influenced by French Symbolism and Decadentism, while also drawing from Italy’s rich classical tradition. … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n.24: Convivial Poems by Giovanni Pascoli and the Podcast “An Ancient Language for a Modern Soul”

#ItalianLitMonth n.20: newitalianbooks.it: Your Portal to the World of Italian Publishing

Posted on by Leah Janeczko

by Paolo Grossi newitalianbooks.it is the web portal dedicated to the promotion of Italian books worldwide, comparable to similar European websites such as the German litrix.de and new-books-in-german.com, the French booksfromfrance.fr, the Spanish newspanishbooks.com, the Dutch letterfonds.nl, etc.  newitalianbooks.it was born in 2020, on my initiative, in a bilingual, Italian-English edition, thanks to the support … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n.20: newitalianbooks.it: Your Portal to the World of Italian Publishing

#ItalianLitMonth n.19: My White Whale: Translating Daniele Del Giudice

Posted on by Leah Janeczko

by Anne Milano Appel I first came upon Daniele Del Giudice in a bookstore window in Rome, while waiting for a bus on Via Vittorio Emanuele. In the window was a copy of his Staccando l'ombra da terra and I went in and bought it. As I read it, I got a sense that this … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n.19: My White Whale: Translating Daniele Del Giudice

#ItalianLitMonth n. 17: Geoffrey Brock on His Translation of Silvia Vecchini’s Young Adult Novel Before Nightfall

Posted on by Leah Janeczko

Chenxin Jiang talks to Geoffrey Brock about his translation of Silvia Vecchini's Before Nightfall, a young adult novel about the siblings Carlo and Emma. Carlo is a teenager who happens to be hearing-impaired and can see only out of one eye. Now that eye is failing, and Carlo must have an operation to try to … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n. 17: Geoffrey Brock on His Translation of Silvia Vecchini’s Young Adult Novel Before Nightfall

#ItalianLitMonth n. 16: Translating Tuscan Tales

Posted on by Leah Janeczko

by Lori Hetherington The old woman finished peeling a chestnut and, after handing it to the youngest of her grandchildren, began to speak with her sweet voice and the pure accent of Tuscany’s mountain people… Stories told by an old grandmother exist in virtually every culture. Some are part of the oral tradition, some are … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n. 16: Translating Tuscan Tales

#ItalianLitMonth n.14: The Nature of Reality and the Human Condition in 1950s Rural Italy, in Paolo Volponi’s The World Machine

Posted on by Leah Janeczko

by Richard Dixon The World Machine is a vivid novelistic portrayal of rural life in postwar Italy. Its narrator, a small-time farmer, is one of life’s misfits, a young man who generally manages to play his cards wrongly. He is the keeper of a great truth: that people are machines built by other beings who … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n.14: The Nature of Reality and the Human Condition in 1950s Rural Italy, in Paolo Volponi’s The World Machine

#ItalianLitMonth n. 8: Translators Aloud and Its Italian Playlist

Posted on by Leah Janeczko

by Leah Janeczko In various posts in our Italian Lit Month blog, you’ll find links to Translators Aloud, a YouTube channel that features videos of translators reading passages from their works. Though only four years old, this “voice of translated literature” has already become a household name in the translator community and has gained nearly … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n. 8: Translators Aloud and Its Italian Playlist

#ItalianLitMonth n.6: Who’s That Girl? A Reader’s Guide to The Mortal and Immortal Life of the Girl from Milan

Posted on by Leah Janeczko

by Oonagh Stransky Domenico Starnone, born in Naples in 1943, is one of Italy’s greatest living authors. His name is often mentioned in connection to the mysterious figure of Elena Ferrante because of their shared interest in certain themes and the city of Naples. But we won’t be talking about that here. The Mortal and … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n.6: Who’s That Girl? A Reader’s Guide to The Mortal and Immortal Life of the Girl from Milan

#ItalianLitMonth n.4: The Florence Review: Italy’s First Bilingual Lit Mag

Posted on by Leah Janeczko

by Johanna Bishop Florence is full of American students—18,000 of them in 2024 alone. And most, of course, are undergraduates who arrive unequipped with enough Italian to let them simply pick books off the shelf in a shop or library. Back in 2016, the young people in Alessandro Raveggi’s class at NYU Florence had the … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n.4: The Florence Review: Italy’s First Bilingual Lit Mag

#ItalianLitMonth n.2: Beppe Fenoglio’s A Private Affair

Posted on by Leah Janeczko

by Howard Curtis Although not especially well known outside Italy, Beppe Fenoglio is considered one of the most significant Italian writers of the period immediately after World War II. Emerging as he did from the anti-Fascist partisan movement, he wrote mostly (though not exclusively) about the war years. When his novel A Private Affair was … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n.2: Beppe Fenoglio’s A Private Affair