Italian Short Stories 1

by Raleigh Trevelyan, Carlo Emilio Gadda, I.M. Rawson (Translator)

The eight stories in this collection, by Moravian, Pavese, Pratolina, and other modern writers, have been selected as being representative of contemporary Italian writing. The English translations provided are literal rather than literary, and there are notes and biographies to help the student of Italian. However, the volume can also be helpful to Italians, who can improve their English by studying a strict rendering of stories with which thet may already be familiar.

Genres: Short Stories, Italian Literature, Italy, Literature

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Born in the Andaman Islands in 1923, Trevelyan moved to England at the age of eight when he was sent to school there. He became an author after a brief career in merchant banking and now lives in London and Cornwall.

Reviews

[Brian Gowthorpe · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me much of 2013 to get through this and there is considerable variety. What a wonderful language and, as usual, the more dialect heavy, the more difficult. Natalia Ginzburg's La Madre was my favourite: a harsh but true portrait of a pair of brothers who are better off without their screwed up mother and a lot happier with the stability of their Nonno and Nonna.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

These were some good stories to brush up on my Italian and I liked how it was a parallel text, with English on one side and Italian on the other. My favorite stories were “Big Fish, Little Fish” by Italo Calvino and “The Mother” by Natalia Ginzburg. “The Mother” was a particularly sad story as it talked about the mother of two little boys and her eventual death. In the end, her two boys don’t remember their mother very well and they live happily with their aunt and grandparents. It’s a beautifully written but heartbreaking story.

[Danice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eight stories literally translated from Italian, each page opposite the original Italian script. Beautifully selected stories.

[Henriette Fischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved la madre by Natalia Ginzburg and the Italo Calvino story of the young diver.

[Clarissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to learn Italian as it is bilingual... but I am not happy with the choice of the stories.. they are all so dark and sad!!

[Wei Wei Yeo · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favourites: “Houses” by Pavese; “The Mother” by Ginzburg; “Footsteps in the Snow” by Soldati; “The Removal” by Pratolini.

[Rod Read · Rating 1 out of 5]

A compilation of short stories written by Italian authors shortly after WWII. It would be better if you read the last story first and end with the first story. Many of them show the mental/emotional deterioration of the characters over the life of the story. I'm assuming this comes from the post WWII Italian mindset at the time the stories were written. I would not recommend the book unless you're a fan of the referenced authors.

[Alyssa Tallama · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've only read two stories in this book: "The Poor" by Carlo Cassola which was very good (4.5 stars) and "The Removal" by Vasco Pratolini which was also a good story (3.5 stars).

Besides its literary value, this book is also useful in learning the Italian language, because the translations of the stories are literal

[Nostaljha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I honestly liked Pavese and Calvino but the others were just okay.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

good intermediate Itialian reader.