A substantial anthology of twentieth-century Italian short fiction, selected and introduced by the fabulous writer and translator Jhumpa Lahiri.

Most of the works are from writers who often sit just outside the neat export canon of “Italian literature”, as Lahiri treats the form as a field of experiment not something particularly mastered by one set in stone group. Lahiri’s introduction is wonderfully engaged on the problem of reading a national literature through translation, and her choices really reflect what crosses languages easily, what becomes distorted, and what simply disappears from view.

The collection ranges across major and less frequently translated figures including Elio Vittorini, Giovanni Verga, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Antonio Tabucchi, Italo Svevo, Leonardo Sciascia, Alberto Savinio and Umberto Saba, with multiple translators represented throughout. 

Edition / Condition: Penguin Books, London, 2019. First Penguin edition. Hardcover with dust jacket. Very light handling wear; jacket clean with only minor shelf wear. Internally clean and unmarked; binding firm. Near fine condition.