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Short Stories in Italian: New Penguin Parallel Text
This is an all new version of the popular Parallel text series, containing nine pieces of contemporary fiction in the original Italian and in English translation. Including stories by Calvino, Benni, Sciascia and Levi, this volume gives a fascinating insight into Italian culture and literature as well as providing an invaluable educational tool.
1. The Long Crossing / Il lungo viaggio - Leonardo Sciascia
2. Italy / Italia - Goffredo Parise
3. The Girl with the Plait / La ragazza con la treccia - Dacia Marini
4. The Last Channel / L'ultimo canale - Italo Calvino
5. Lilith / Lilít - Primo Levi
6. The Island of Komodo / L'isola di Komodo - Susanna Tamaro
7. Women by the Pool / Donne in piscina - Sandra Petrignani
8. A Naughty Schoolboy / Un cattivo scolaro - Stefano Benni
9. Saturday Afternoons / I pomeriggi del sabato - Antonio Tabucchi
1. The Long Crossing / Il lungo viaggio - Leonardo Sciascia
2. Italy / Italia - Goffredo Parise
3. The Girl with the Plait / La ragazza con la treccia - Dacia Marini
4. The Last Channel / L'ultimo canale - Italo Calvino
5. Lilith / Lilít - Primo Levi
6. The Island of Komodo / L'isola di Komodo - Susanna Tamaro
7. Women by the Pool / Donne in piscina - Sandra Petrignani
8. A Naughty Schoolboy / Un cattivo scolaro - Stefano Benni
9. Saturday Afternoons / I pomeriggi del sabato - Antonio Tabucchi
192 pages, Paperback
First published September 30, 1999
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409 people want to read
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Nick Roberts
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
June 22, 2021
A volume of nine short stories by nine 20th-century Italian writers has been with me for a score of years, not exactly studiously ignored but still incomprehensibly remaining unread. I’m not too sure why I hesitated because in translation they’ve been very satisfying, and although I’ve only read a selection of paragraphs from each story in the original the experience has been equally enlightening. At a time of pandemic only virtual travel is possible, so these brief narratives have evoked Italian life and lives really well when physical travel has been out of the question.
The authors whose names were familiar to me were Italo Calvino and Primo Levi, so it was interesting to comes across Leonardo Sciascia, Goffredo Parise, Stefano Benni and Antonio Tabucchi, while the female contributors who were included were Dacia Maraini, Susanna Tamaro and Sandra Petrignani. Nick Roberts (who translated a couple of the pieces) has done a great job selecting a variety in terms of subject, tone and style; and English versions by Avril Bardoni, Sharon Wood, Ruth Feldman, Tim Parks, Edward Williams, Charles Caroe and Chris Roberts have been — as far as I can tell from my very limited command of Italian — very readable without departing from the originals.
And what of the stories themselves? Here are psychological portraits, tales with a sting in the tale, insightful social narratives, reported conversations, a youngster’s stream of consciousness piece, even a satire, all very different and, like courses at a dinner, each needing a little time to savour and digest before moving on.
Sciascia’s ‘The Long Crossing’ (Il lungo viaggio) is about Sicilians hoping to clandestinely migrate to America by sea; the man who arranges their passage is “some sort of travelling salesman to judge from his speech, but with an honest face that made you trust him,” and the desperate migrants remain hopeful during their long days at sea. Parise’s Italia begins very prosaically with the marriage of Maria and Giovanni, following their lives through to old age, but as the deadpan litany continues you start to realise there is a subtext, an implicit commentary on what is regarded as honorable in Italian tradition.
Maraini’s ‘The Girl with the Plait’ (La ragazza con la treccia) is vividly told but in the Italy of the 1990s the subject of abortion was largely taboo; the author sensitively but inexorably dissects what must have been a common scenario of teenage seduction leading to unwanted pregnancy. In contrast Calvino’s L’Ultimo Canale is a first-person tale of monomania, with the narrator continuously channel-hopping, searching for the TV programme that will give him the secret that he knows is for him alone. Levi’s Lilit is founded on the Jewish tradition that Adam had two wives, Eve and Lilith, and involves (as many of Levi’s stories do) prisoners in a wartime concentration camp discoursing on matters that will take them away from their everyday reality; we are to assume the conversation between a Polish Jew and Levi himself is a piece of autobiografiction but that gives it even more poignancy.
Tamaro’s L’isola di Komodo mixes magic realism and social commentary in a thoughtful racconto about a child’s gradual rejection by parents and community because of his strange lizard-like appearance; in this cross between a fable and a parable he becomes isolated, like the so-called dragons of Komodo, and largely ignored while being kept at home, until he makes a decision about his future. In a change of register Petrignani’s chatty Donne in piscina (‘Women by the Pool’) is given immediacy by being told in the present tense. Self-absorbed middle class women these sunbathers may be but one of them is constantly put in mind of the fairytale of the Frog Prince, Il principe ranocchio, whenever she considers a toad which has approached the poolside. When a wouldbe prince approaches the women what will happen to the toad?
More contrasts await with the final two stories. Benni’s Un cativvo scolaro (‘A naughty schoolboy’) is a satire on political regimes which rigidly dictate what is taught in schools; in this case the titular character has to decide whether or not to conform to a syllabus that demands an intimate knowledge of celebrity gossip, films and soaps. Finally, Tabucchi’s ‘Saturday afternoons’ (I pomeriggi del sabato) is the longest piece here but rightly so, dealing as it does with the long humid days of summer. Another schoolboy is involved here, one who has to spend the long vacation revising for a resit Latin exam, and the touching narrative perfectly captures the wandering musings of a young lad trying to focus his thoughts and feelings when all he wants to do is keep cool in the shade. Tabucchi cunningly delays gratification in this tale of a family with a missing father, a distracted mother, an irritating younger sister and a narrator who can’t bring himself to speculate on who a stranger might be.
The boy’s sister Nena has described a cyclist with a knotted handkerchief on his head, riding past at two o’clock with the air of stopping but not doing so. Who is he? Nena seems to think she knows, and will persuade her mother but not the narrator.
I really appreciated the range of stories here and the order they were presented in. Without the translations and the equally helpful notes I wouldn’t have grasped either the sense of the narratives nor the nuances of the language of the few passages I chose to interpret, but I’ll leave it to bilingual speakers to say how successful they regarded the translations. All I can say is that I valued this collection as an introduction to a spectrum of subjects and authors I largely was unaware of.
The authors whose names were familiar to me were Italo Calvino and Primo Levi, so it was interesting to comes across Leonardo Sciascia, Goffredo Parise, Stefano Benni and Antonio Tabucchi, while the female contributors who were included were Dacia Maraini, Susanna Tamaro and Sandra Petrignani. Nick Roberts (who translated a couple of the pieces) has done a great job selecting a variety in terms of subject, tone and style; and English versions by Avril Bardoni, Sharon Wood, Ruth Feldman, Tim Parks, Edward Williams, Charles Caroe and Chris Roberts have been — as far as I can tell from my very limited command of Italian — very readable without departing from the originals.
And what of the stories themselves? Here are psychological portraits, tales with a sting in the tale, insightful social narratives, reported conversations, a youngster’s stream of consciousness piece, even a satire, all very different and, like courses at a dinner, each needing a little time to savour and digest before moving on.
Sciascia’s ‘The Long Crossing’ (Il lungo viaggio) is about Sicilians hoping to clandestinely migrate to America by sea; the man who arranges their passage is “some sort of travelling salesman to judge from his speech, but with an honest face that made you trust him,” and the desperate migrants remain hopeful during their long days at sea. Parise’s Italia begins very prosaically with the marriage of Maria and Giovanni, following their lives through to old age, but as the deadpan litany continues you start to realise there is a subtext, an implicit commentary on what is regarded as honorable in Italian tradition.
Maraini’s ‘The Girl with the Plait’ (La ragazza con la treccia) is vividly told but in the Italy of the 1990s the subject of abortion was largely taboo; the author sensitively but inexorably dissects what must have been a common scenario of teenage seduction leading to unwanted pregnancy. In contrast Calvino’s L’Ultimo Canale is a first-person tale of monomania, with the narrator continuously channel-hopping, searching for the TV programme that will give him the secret that he knows is for him alone. Levi’s Lilit is founded on the Jewish tradition that Adam had two wives, Eve and Lilith, and involves (as many of Levi’s stories do) prisoners in a wartime concentration camp discoursing on matters that will take them away from their everyday reality; we are to assume the conversation between a Polish Jew and Levi himself is a piece of autobiografiction but that gives it even more poignancy.
Tamaro’s L’isola di Komodo mixes magic realism and social commentary in a thoughtful racconto about a child’s gradual rejection by parents and community because of his strange lizard-like appearance; in this cross between a fable and a parable he becomes isolated, like the so-called dragons of Komodo, and largely ignored while being kept at home, until he makes a decision about his future. In a change of register Petrignani’s chatty Donne in piscina (‘Women by the Pool’) is given immediacy by being told in the present tense. Self-absorbed middle class women these sunbathers may be but one of them is constantly put in mind of the fairytale of the Frog Prince, Il principe ranocchio, whenever she considers a toad which has approached the poolside. When a wouldbe prince approaches the women what will happen to the toad?
More contrasts await with the final two stories. Benni’s Un cativvo scolaro (‘A naughty schoolboy’) is a satire on political regimes which rigidly dictate what is taught in schools; in this case the titular character has to decide whether or not to conform to a syllabus that demands an intimate knowledge of celebrity gossip, films and soaps. Finally, Tabucchi’s ‘Saturday afternoons’ (I pomeriggi del sabato) is the longest piece here but rightly so, dealing as it does with the long humid days of summer. Another schoolboy is involved here, one who has to spend the long vacation revising for a resit Latin exam, and the touching narrative perfectly captures the wandering musings of a young lad trying to focus his thoughts and feelings when all he wants to do is keep cool in the shade. Tabucchi cunningly delays gratification in this tale of a family with a missing father, a distracted mother, an irritating younger sister and a narrator who can’t bring himself to speculate on who a stranger might be.
Era in bicicletta, disse la Nena, aveva in testa un fazzoletto coi nodi, l’ho visto bene, anche lui mi ha visto, voleva qualcosa qui di casa, l’ho capito, ma è passato come se non potesse fermarsi, erano le due precise.
The boy’s sister Nena has described a cyclist with a knotted handkerchief on his head, riding past at two o’clock with the air of stopping but not doing so. Who is he? Nena seems to think she knows, and will persuade her mother but not the narrator.
I really appreciated the range of stories here and the order they were presented in. Without the translations and the equally helpful notes I wouldn’t have grasped either the sense of the narratives nor the nuances of the language of the few passages I chose to interpret, but I’ll leave it to bilingual speakers to say how successful they regarded the translations. All I can say is that I valued this collection as an introduction to a spectrum of subjects and authors I largely was unaware of.
December 2, 2024
This book was good to practice my Italian reading skills, but I can’t say I really enjoyed the short stories themselves. I was very close to giving this two stars, but some stories were pretty alright, like the one from Primo Levi or the one from Leonardo Sciascia. Tamaro’s story was also pretty fine. However, I was a bit disappointed by Calvino’s story, which I felt was hard to follow and had extremely long and vague sentences. The worst one was the one from Tabucchi, which I felt was totally unreadable, hard to follow and not engaging at all. I couldn’t click with it and for the first time ever I just gave up and didn’t read it all the way through. I even tried reading only the English translation but I still felt it made no sense whatsoever and was a mess to read. Still satisfied that I read the other texts though. I hope I’ll read more Italian in the future that’s not just Geronimo Stilton!
December 31, 2019
I constantly look to read books that take me out of my country in my mind’s eye. On this journey I soon discovered that foreign authors ( in languages other than English ) had translations into English that somehow did not sound right.
A few months ago I decided I start learning other languages to enable me to read these books. I started with Italian and am probably making progress - time will tell.
Ok so what ? I found this book in Manhattan which appeared a good start for me to read Italian and English side by side. The choice of stories are excellent. Each one ending with a twist.
The stories are just 10-12 pages long and the Italian versions are alongside. Italo Calvino is amongst the authors whose story is in the list.
I enjoyed the stories. Recommended.
I hope I can find more such books in other languages like Spanish and French too.
A few months ago I decided I start learning other languages to enable me to read these books. I started with Italian and am probably making progress - time will tell.
Ok so what ? I found this book in Manhattan which appeared a good start for me to read Italian and English side by side. The choice of stories are excellent. Each one ending with a twist.
The stories are just 10-12 pages long and the Italian versions are alongside. Italo Calvino is amongst the authors whose story is in the list.
I enjoyed the stories. Recommended.
I hope I can find more such books in other languages like Spanish and French too.
March 21, 2019
This book contains the following stories, all very well written and, I believe, full of meaning and insight into the culture.
1. The Long Crossing / Il lungo viaggio - Leonardo Sciascia - Shocking in its curtness, cutting perspective into human cruelty and despair
2. Italy / Italia - Goffredo Parise - Slow and bland perspective of the life of an Adam-and-Eve couple of Italians
3. The Girl with the Plait / La ragazza con la treccia - Dacia Marini - A tiny sad puzzle, a story of circular fate and a satire of mores, human weakness, loneliness and societal pressure
4. The Last Channel / L'ultimo canale - Italo Calvino - Unreliable narrator trying to find meaning in life, held in an insane asylum, disorganised narration
5. Lilith / Lilít - Primo Levi - A story of friendship in captivity and the role of religious tales in building a culture, light read
6. The Island of Komodo / L'isola di Komodo - Susanna Tamaro - mystery and metaphor, thematically reminiscent of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
7. Women by the Pool / Donne in piscina - Sandra Petrignani - a story about finding meaning in everyday life in the middle age. Really enjoyed the childhood flashbacks, which provided a basis for comparison and gave dept to the story
8. A Naughty Schoolboy / Un cattivo scolaro - Stefano Benni - Biting satire of the sharpest kind, story of an Italy where the roles and worth of books and television have been reversed and children are made to remember famouse TV quotes for school. Strongly recommend. Also, strikingly accurate rendition of school teachers in Romania and, apprently, Italy, too.
9. Saturday Afternoons / I pomeriggi del sabato - Antonio Tabucchi - a story of how the ghost of the past become superimposed on the present - I think. It's a story of the fantastic.
That being said, read this, if your reading skills in Italian are intermediate or more. The translations by Nick Roberts, the editor, are poor. I hope he keeps his artistic license for whatever vaguely original work he might be tempted to author. For such as he, who seem to consider translation work slightly below them, may I recommend fanfiction?
I warmly recommend this anthology for anyone looking to learn Italian or discover more of Italian literature.
1. The Long Crossing / Il lungo viaggio - Leonardo Sciascia - Shocking in its curtness, cutting perspective into human cruelty and despair
2. Italy / Italia - Goffredo Parise - Slow and bland perspective of the life of an Adam-and-Eve couple of Italians
3. The Girl with the Plait / La ragazza con la treccia - Dacia Marini - A tiny sad puzzle, a story of circular fate and a satire of mores, human weakness, loneliness and societal pressure
4. The Last Channel / L'ultimo canale - Italo Calvino - Unreliable narrator trying to find meaning in life, held in an insane asylum, disorganised narration
5. Lilith / Lilít - Primo Levi - A story of friendship in captivity and the role of religious tales in building a culture, light read
6. The Island of Komodo / L'isola di Komodo - Susanna Tamaro - mystery and metaphor, thematically reminiscent of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
7. Women by the Pool / Donne in piscina - Sandra Petrignani - a story about finding meaning in everyday life in the middle age. Really enjoyed the childhood flashbacks, which provided a basis for comparison and gave dept to the story
8. A Naughty Schoolboy / Un cattivo scolaro - Stefano Benni - Biting satire of the sharpest kind, story of an Italy where the roles and worth of books and television have been reversed and children are made to remember famouse TV quotes for school. Strongly recommend. Also, strikingly accurate rendition of school teachers in Romania and, apprently, Italy, too.
9. Saturday Afternoons / I pomeriggi del sabato - Antonio Tabucchi - a story of how the ghost of the past become superimposed on the present - I think. It's a story of the fantastic.
That being said, read this, if your reading skills in Italian are intermediate or more. The translations by Nick Roberts, the editor, are poor. I hope he keeps his artistic license for whatever vaguely original work he might be tempted to author. For such as he, who seem to consider translation work slightly below them, may I recommend fanfiction?
I warmly recommend this anthology for anyone looking to learn Italian or discover more of Italian literature.
July 5, 2018
My second favorite collection of short stories of all time. I enjoyed all stories beside one. An enjoyable read!
June 22, 2015
Though it took me a decent while as I'm only somewhat proficient in Italian, I loved reading this from beginning to end! It allowed me the opportunity to expand my vocabulary and learn colloquial nuances while engaging with understandable texts. Translations were pretty on point, and the selection of stories themselves seemed rather nice!
As for the actual literary quality of the texts, they all had varied complexities and many differing themes. Love and suffering were common throughout most if not all stories. Personally, Goffredo Parise's "Italy" and Antonio Tabucchi's "Saturday Afternoons" were my two favorite stories. All in all, I heartily recommend this small but solid book to anyone!
As for the actual literary quality of the texts, they all had varied complexities and many differing themes. Love and suffering were common throughout most if not all stories. Personally, Goffredo Parise's "Italy" and Antonio Tabucchi's "Saturday Afternoons" were my two favorite stories. All in all, I heartily recommend this small but solid book to anyone!
September 20, 2025
Sciascia, Calvino, Primo Levi
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 11, 2011
I tried this initially as a electronic book on the iPad, which was useless as you completely lose the parallel text, so this is one of my few recent reads that has been in a physical format.
The collection of stories is excellent with real variety and reading interest in both languages.
As a novice at Italian having this variety of registers and literary styles was tremendously useful to assist in developing a breadth of understanding of the written language outside of newspapers and websites.
Having different translators was also beneficial. As Nick Roberts writes in his introduction some translations are more literal than others, and although this was for a me a very slow read indeed I got a great deal of pleasure and learning from it on many different levels.
The use of footnotes was quite sparing, and I found all of them very illuminating. I could have done with more, but this would perhaps have left the text peppered with too many superscript numbers and detracted from the flow.
The collection of stories is excellent with real variety and reading interest in both languages.
As a novice at Italian having this variety of registers and literary styles was tremendously useful to assist in developing a breadth of understanding of the written language outside of newspapers and websites.
Having different translators was also beneficial. As Nick Roberts writes in his introduction some translations are more literal than others, and although this was for a me a very slow read indeed I got a great deal of pleasure and learning from it on many different levels.
The use of footnotes was quite sparing, and I found all of them very illuminating. I could have done with more, but this would perhaps have left the text peppered with too many superscript numbers and detracted from the flow.
January 12, 2017
This book was the perfect introduction to the challenge of reading pieces of Italian literature.
I really liked the selection of stories because it showcased both an old-fashioned and a current way of storytelling (even though the passato remoto was equally tiresome throughout the book).
My favourite story has to be "I pomeriggi del sabato"; it was heartbreaking and left me reeling with unanswered questions and knots in my chest.
I also really liked "Italia" and "L'ultimo canale", they are wonderfully written.
I highly recommend the book for any beginner in the Italian language!
I really liked the selection of stories because it showcased both an old-fashioned and a current way of storytelling (even though the passato remoto was equally tiresome throughout the book).
My favourite story has to be "I pomeriggi del sabato"; it was heartbreaking and left me reeling with unanswered questions and knots in my chest.
I also really liked "Italia" and "L'ultimo canale", they are wonderfully written.
I highly recommend the book for any beginner in the Italian language!
October 11, 2018
Not all the stories were equally interesting, in my opinion, but they presented a curious variety of Italian short story. The book was worth reading if only for Italo Clavino's, Primo Levi's and Antonio Tabuchhi's stories. But the other stories were not a waste of time either. Parallel translation, even though not always perfect, was a helpful tool in studying Italian and improving the reading fluency.
April 24, 2012
Most of these stories were quite interesting, however nearly every single one of them ended without really explaining anything or having a real conclusion. I felt let down by the few that I enjoyed and frustrated with the rest. I know that a few of them are parts of bigger stories or linked to something else, but it was very disappointing that they were so brief and inconclusive.
My favourite short story in this collection was I pomeriggi del sabato because I felt really involved in the story and I desperately wanted to know what was going on. The ending, however, left a lot to be desired.
Overall, a nice little collection with an informative introduction and accurate translations.
My favourite short story in this collection was I pomeriggi del sabato because I felt really involved in the story and I desperately wanted to know what was going on. The ending, however, left a lot to be desired.
Overall, a nice little collection with an informative introduction and accurate translations.
July 3, 2014
A good collection of stories, almost all extremely readable. I would single out the long final story by Antonio Tabucchi as especially good. To my taste the weakest one was the surreal 'The Island of Komodo'. I have recently read the Spanish language short-story collection in this series, and the Italian one wouldn't be as comprehensive as regards notes on the text. Also I think that a vocabulary-list at the end of these books would be of help too.
August 18, 2008
Overall, a great assortment of short stories. I loved all of them, from the kafka-esque "L'isola di Komodo" to the heart-breaking "I pommeriggi del sabato". Having the English and Italian versions side by side was really helpful although tedious- I've never crawled through reading anything so slowly in my life, but it was worth it.
March 6, 2007
Lovely stories that stick with you. I read it for the English translations as well as the original Italian, so everyone can read it. All the stories put together remind me so strongly of Italy, they create such an atmosphere.
November 16, 2013
Overall, very good. Particularly "I pomeriggi del sabatao", "L'ultimo canale", and "Italia." Some deserve a reread.
July 4, 2014
Funny first story. :)
March 5, 2015
great tool for intermediate to advanced learners. As a bonus, it is actual italian literature.
January 23, 2016
Good intermediate Italian reader.
May 5, 2017
Don't know that I have anything to add to reviews of others struggling with reading literature in a new language. That said, the short stories were of interest and the Italian was rarely ineluctable
August 13, 2017
Great stories to learn Italian.
February 3, 2018
Interesting and diverse stories, great for someone learning Italian like me.
January 10, 2021
3.5 stars
Format (3 stars): Not being highly proficient in Italian, I really appreciated having the parallel translation in English for these short stories. Some were easier for me at my level while others had much more advanced vocabulary than I possess, especially having only studied Italian for 2 years (and that 10+ years ago!). The parallel translations meant that I could read some portions in Italian first, then read the English, while more complicated language in other stories could be read in English first and then in the original Italian. I wish the notes included had been footnotes rather than endnotes to minimize flipping back and forth which, for me, interrupted my pace/flow of reading. I also wish there were more notes on grammar, etc., since, if one is reading a book with parallel translation, I think it’s likely that one may not have advanced skills, otherwise one would simply read in the original and look up unfamiliar terms or expressions as needed. (This is my experience with German, in which I’m much more advanced.)
Stories (4 stars): Regarding the stories themselves, I enjoyed some more than others. Il Lungo Viaggio is both heartbreaking and humorous at the same time and was probably my favorite. La Ragazza con la Treccia and Lilit were extremely moving. On the other hand, I think I’d need a literary critic to help me understand more of the nuance to L’isola di Komodo.
I imagine I will return to these in the future, perhaps one story at a time to continue working on my Italian reading comprehension and I’d be interested in an updated version with more recent stories if one exists.
Format (3 stars): Not being highly proficient in Italian, I really appreciated having the parallel translation in English for these short stories. Some were easier for me at my level while others had much more advanced vocabulary than I possess, especially having only studied Italian for 2 years (and that 10+ years ago!). The parallel translations meant that I could read some portions in Italian first, then read the English, while more complicated language in other stories could be read in English first and then in the original Italian. I wish the notes included had been footnotes rather than endnotes to minimize flipping back and forth which, for me, interrupted my pace/flow of reading. I also wish there were more notes on grammar, etc., since, if one is reading a book with parallel translation, I think it’s likely that one may not have advanced skills, otherwise one would simply read in the original and look up unfamiliar terms or expressions as needed. (This is my experience with German, in which I’m much more advanced.)
Stories (4 stars): Regarding the stories themselves, I enjoyed some more than others. Il Lungo Viaggio is both heartbreaking and humorous at the same time and was probably my favorite. La Ragazza con la Treccia and Lilit were extremely moving. On the other hand, I think I’d need a literary critic to help me understand more of the nuance to L’isola di Komodo.
I imagine I will return to these in the future, perhaps one story at a time to continue working on my Italian reading comprehension and I’d be interested in an updated version with more recent stories if one exists.
July 17, 2024
i really enjoyed these short stories - even the most ‘shallow’ ones felt like they had something to offer, and i walked away from each feeling like i discovered a new part of myself. the english translations were wonderful; minus a few inconsistencies, which i’m really not an expert to speak on, they seemed amazingly congruent with the italian version, verb tenses and all. the notes offered good insight into not only italian culture but also grammar, and though i still don’t know the difference between an object pronoun and direct object pronoun, i do think this helped me brush up on some of the lesser known italian language rules. i really enjoyed Lilit - Levi is obviously an amazing writer, but the story of adam and eve always fascinated me, and seeing it from the jewish perspective in a concentration camp helped me see the same story in a new way. saturday afternoons also really touched me, and i can almost taste blueberries myself as i think of nena’s father. even women by the pool was really enjoyable; at first, i thought it was superficial, but its charm lies in the depth that exists under the surface. honestly i really recommend, both for italian students and english speakers - the translations really do the stories justice.
December 5, 2022
En este libro se recopilan varias historias cortas de diferentes temáticas de autores clásicos italianos, como Italo Calvino.
Mi italiano no es tan bueno, pude entender un 50-60% del contenido, pero me parece que será un buen texto de práctica para el futuro. Por suerte cuenta con muy buenas traducciones.
En cuanto a las historias, son 9:
-El largo viaje: Inmigrantes italianos rumbo a EUA
-Italia: La vida de unos recién casados
-La chica de la trenza: La triste historia de una madre adolescente
-El último canal: La narrativa de una persona perdiendo la razón
-Lilith: La historia de la primera mujer creada
-La isla de Komodo: Un niño nacido deforme y rechazado por sus padres
-Un mal estudiante: La rebeldía de un niño que prefiere leer a ser indoctrinado por la televisión en un mundo distópico
-Atardeceres de sábados: Una historia de fantasmas suburbanos
Algunas son mejores que otras, en particular las 1, 2, 8 y 9 me gustaron bastante, pero me quedaron ganas de releer todas.
Mi italiano no es tan bueno, pude entender un 50-60% del contenido, pero me parece que será un buen texto de práctica para el futuro. Por suerte cuenta con muy buenas traducciones.
En cuanto a las historias, son 9:
-El largo viaje: Inmigrantes italianos rumbo a EUA
-Italia: La vida de unos recién casados
-La chica de la trenza: La triste historia de una madre adolescente
-El último canal: La narrativa de una persona perdiendo la razón
-Lilith: La historia de la primera mujer creada
-La isla de Komodo: Un niño nacido deforme y rechazado por sus padres
-Un mal estudiante: La rebeldía de un niño que prefiere leer a ser indoctrinado por la televisión en un mundo distópico
-Atardeceres de sábados: Una historia de fantasmas suburbanos
Algunas son mejores que otras, en particular las 1, 2, 8 y 9 me gustaron bastante, pero me quedaron ganas de releer todas.
April 11, 2019
A very interesting selection of nine short stories from Italian writers from the late-20th century. Three highlights for me: Primo Levi’s Lilith, about a man he meets in the concentration camp who tells him stories about Adam’s first wife; Saturday Afternoons by Antonio Tabucci, a stunning portrayal of grief in Tuscany; and Women By The Pool by Sandra Petrignani, which sets a deliciously strange mood that reminded me of Deborah Levy’s Hot Milk. The collection reveals interesting preoccupations of the times: the three stories by women are almost self-consciously feminist; while Italo Calvino and Stefano Benni worry about what he proliferation of TVs will do to society. A great introduction to some writers I hadn’t heard of. Not bad for a book found in an Airbnb. (I only read the English versions)
April 3, 2021
Did not think much of some of the translations but the selection of texts is definitely a good one, especially the last one by Tabucchi - or perhaps it is the most memorable for me since I admittedly started reading the book just about a year ago. Nowadays, we are inclined to prioritise e-readers for foreign-language literature since e-dictionaries are oh-so useful, however there is something liberating about not looking up the odd word (incidentally, this is how we read English most of the time) which makes reading a more fluid experience. The notes at the end of the book are also lucid and of use. Overall, would definitely recommend for someone looking for a gateway into Italian short prose.
December 21, 2020
Parallel texts are useful when you are trying to improve your reading comprehension in a foreign language. This book is printed with Italian on one page, and the English translation on the facing page. Inevitably, you will trip over some word, phrase, or idiom, when you can quickly refer to the English version to find out what the author meant. I tried to be disciplined, and read the Italian first, and only referred to the English when I got stuck, by covering the English side with a blank sheet of paper.
April 13, 2022
The first story is good. But the rest are boring and pointless, or even worse, outright degenerate in their promotion of left wing values.
As far as language learning go, many of the stories have either a very peculiar language (for example, the Sicilian slang and idioms in the first story) that nobody ever uses in Italian, or grammatical and vocabulary so complex, that I cannot see how anybody except those at level C2 can learn anything for the stories (and the English translations are often rather bizarre).
As far as language learning go, many of the stories have either a very peculiar language (for example, the Sicilian slang and idioms in the first story) that nobody ever uses in Italian, or grammatical and vocabulary so complex, that I cannot see how anybody except those at level C2 can learn anything for the stories (and the English translations are often rather bizarre).
September 9, 2022
This anthology is of course very useful if you're trying to improve your Italian and I wish there were similar books in more languages (apart from the usual ones). It's just the stories themselves had the tendency to be a little drab; the big exceptions being Parisi's Italy and Levi's Lilth. The rest feels a bit underwhelming truth be told, with even Calvino's The Last Channel falling a bit flat. Which is kind of a shame, since the selection in the previous two Penguin Italian parallel short story anthologies was much more impressive.
August 1, 2025
Short Stories in Italian includes nine short stories from some key Italian writers in both the original Italian and English. The idea is to be able to cross reference the Italian and English text to help learn Italian without an Italian English dictionary. For me this did not really work, and I still needed to find out some of the words and I do not think I have any better understanding of the Italian language. However, some of the short stories were pretty good and I enjoyed reading them.
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