The New Italian Novel

📖 The Scoop

Three names dominate the Italian novel in the English-speaking world - Italo Calvino, Primo Levi, and Umberto Eco. Yet since the late 1960's there have been many more important Italian writers whose work remains unknown outside Italy.

This ground-breaking book brings their writings to a wider audience, offering general critical introductions to fifteen contemporary novelists whose work is of an international calibre. Central to most is a preoccupation with the relationship between writing and the world. The authors deal with a vast range of topics and periods - including present-day events, the past, and the problems faced by women and by society as a whole - but nearly all look at how such matters might be tackled in literature.

With each chapter written by an Italian specialist and a full introduction setting the novelists in their historical and cultural context, The New Italian Novel is essential reading for anyone wanting an English introduction to the best of Italian writing.

Genre: Literary Criticism / European / Italian (fancy, right?)