What do you think?
Rate this book
The Nice Old Man and the Pretty Girl
...the sin of an old man is equal to about two sins of a young man.
The fable-like story of an old man's sexual obsession with a young woman is a distillation of Italo Svevo's concerns--attraction of an older man to a younger woman, individual conscience versus social convention, and the cost of sexual desire. This novella is a marvel of psychological insight, following the man's vacillations and tortuous self-justifications to their tragic-comic end. It is presented here in a translation first commissioned and published by Virginia Woolf for her Hogarth Press.
The Art of The Novella Series
Too short to be a novel, too long to be a short story, the novella is generally unrecognized by academics and publishers. Nonetheless, it is a form beloved and practiced by literature's greatest writers. In the Art Of The Novella series, Melville House celebrates this renegade art form and its practitioners with titles that are, in many instances, presented in book form for the first time.
The fable-like story of an old man's sexual obsession with a young woman is a distillation of Italo Svevo's concerns--attraction of an older man to a younger woman, individual conscience versus social convention, and the cost of sexual desire. This novella is a marvel of psychological insight, following the man's vacillations and tortuous self-justifications to their tragic-comic end. It is presented here in a translation first commissioned and published by Virginia Woolf for her Hogarth Press.
The Art of The Novella Series
Too short to be a novel, too long to be a short story, the novella is generally unrecognized by academics and publishers. Nonetheless, it is a form beloved and practiced by literature's greatest writers. In the Art Of The Novella series, Melville House celebrates this renegade art form and its practitioners with titles that are, in many instances, presented in book form for the first time.
92 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1926
19 people are currently reading
666 people want to read
About the author
Italo Svevo
223 books467 followersAron Hector Schmitz, better known by the pseudonym Italo Svevo, was an Italian writer, businessman, novelist, playwright, and short story writer.
A close friend of Irish novelist and poet James Joyce, Svevo was considered a pioneer of the psychological novel in Italy and is best known for his classic modernist novel La coscienza di Zeno (1923), a work that had a profound effect on the movement.
A close friend of Irish novelist and poet James Joyce, Svevo was considered a pioneer of the psychological novel in Italy and is best known for his classic modernist novel La coscienza di Zeno (1923), a work that had a profound effect on the movement.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews
October 2, 2022
Simplemente genial.
video reseña completa:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CgWx8XYFetS/
video reseña completa:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CgWx8XYFetS/
September 12, 2017
Çok sıcak, insancıl, sizi bir anda sarıveren bir kısa roman veya uzun öykü. Bir adam yaşlı ve yanlızsa hele bir de genç bir kıza aşık olmuşsa... Bu durumda insanın içindeki zıtlıkların nasıl ortaya çıktığını, güçlü ve zayıf yönlerinin birbiriyle nasıl çatıştıklarını o kadar güzel bir dille anlatmış ki Svevo, kitabı gençseniz bile okuyun derim. Yaşınız uygunsa içinizde bir kıpraşma da olabilir :)
April 25, 2018
اولین کتابی که از ایتالو اسوو خوندم "وجدان زنو" بود.
به قدری توصیفها و شرحش از روان و تفکر آدم خوب بود که باورم نمیشد شخصیت کتاب فرضی باشه.
با خوندن این کتاب دوباره به این نظریه رسیدم که هر نویسنده بزرگ قبل از نویسنده بودن، روانشناس بزرگیه.
و قبل از هر روان، روان خودش رو میشناسه.
درگیریهای ذهنی که در این کتاب از "ذهن پیرمرد" میگذره، چنان ریز بینانهست که من فکر میکنم اسوو تجربه شخصیش رو نوشته.
لقب "مهربان" برای "پیرمردِ" کتاب به نظرم بیشتر به "وجدانِ" پیرمرد برمیگرده.
کتاب از تعارضهای درونی زیادی حرف میزنه که برای برآشفتنِ هر آدمی، حتی اگر پیر هم نباشه، کافیه.
به قدری توصیفها و شرحش از روان و تفکر آدم خوب بود که باورم نمیشد شخصیت کتاب فرضی باشه.
با خوندن این کتاب دوباره به این نظریه رسیدم که هر نویسنده بزرگ قبل از نویسنده بودن، روانشناس بزرگیه.
و قبل از هر روان، روان خودش رو میشناسه.
درگیریهای ذهنی که در این کتاب از "ذهن پیرمرد" میگذره، چنان ریز بینانهست که من فکر میکنم اسوو تجربه شخصیش رو نوشته.
لقب "مهربان" برای "پیرمردِ" کتاب به نظرم بیشتر به "وجدانِ" پیرمرد برمیگرده.
کتاب از تعارضهای درونی زیادی حرف میزنه که برای برآشفتنِ هر آدمی، حتی اگر پیر هم نباشه، کافیه.
December 20, 2025
לסקירה מפורטת בעברית, קישור לבלוג שלי -
https://sivi-the-avid-reader.com/הסיפ...
https://sivi-the-avid-reader.com/הסיפ...
January 1, 2018
The ending was a little melodramatic even for me, but I liked this book with its snide humor and moral paradoxes.
September 16, 2017
İkiyüzlü bir kart zamparanın son günlerini anlatıyor kitabımız. Tabii güzel yazılmış ve çevrilmiş, su gibi akıyor da okumasam da olurmuş.
January 15, 2022
Ortalama aldığı puandan daha iyi bir kitap. Svevo, verdiği mesajları gayet iyi aktarmış okuyucuya.
November 2, 2014
Ah. Ah. The characteristic mild mix of pathos, ironic humour and profundity that permeates all of Svevo's work.
An old man (about my age) falls in... love? lust? with a beautiful young woman as she drives her trolley (what we in Melbourne might call a tram) in Trieste at the start of the Great War. Well, we've all been there (I certainly have), falling in love, I mean, with a lovely, clean (she bathes once a day) young woman, inappropriately. She comes around to see (euphemism) him at his insistence a few times, and he gives her some money, but he decides to slow it down for it seems his conscience is troubling him. Then he has a severe angina attack (we've all been there - I certainly have) which makes him reflect on both his mortality and then further on the morality of what they have been doing.
He decides to write something to instruct her (as well as continue to send her money) - but this turns into a larger work on the morality of the responsibilities of age. What does youth owe to old age, and how should old people instruct young people; those who, although they are incapable of understanding this, will become old and near death one day themselves. As his heart keeps giving out (not a metaphor) he tries to prepare this treatise for publication, hoping that will explain the moral dilemma to the world, but his doctor, who listens to his arguments, is not impressed...
What is to become of this quandary, what will his treatise achieve? As he admits on his last written pages: Nothing, nothing, nothing.
~~~
This is stylistically not his best work by a considerable margin, the story doesn't flow quite perfectly, but Svevo nevertheless skewers the guilt and regret of men as they age, as he did so remarkably in Zeno's Conscience and particularly As A Man Grows Older. And I am currently experiencing it.
The term "tragico-comic" could have created just for Svevo. Or for me.
An old man (about my age) falls in... love? lust? with a beautiful young woman as she drives her trolley (what we in Melbourne might call a tram) in Trieste at the start of the Great War. Well, we've all been there (I certainly have), falling in love, I mean, with a lovely, clean (she bathes once a day) young woman, inappropriately. She comes around to see (euphemism) him at his insistence a few times, and he gives her some money, but he decides to slow it down for it seems his conscience is troubling him. Then he has a severe angina attack (we've all been there - I certainly have) which makes him reflect on both his mortality and then further on the morality of what they have been doing.
He decides to write something to instruct her (as well as continue to send her money) - but this turns into a larger work on the morality of the responsibilities of age. What does youth owe to old age, and how should old people instruct young people; those who, although they are incapable of understanding this, will become old and near death one day themselves. As his heart keeps giving out (not a metaphor) he tries to prepare this treatise for publication, hoping that will explain the moral dilemma to the world, but his doctor, who listens to his arguments, is not impressed...
What is to become of this quandary, what will his treatise achieve? As he admits on his last written pages: Nothing, nothing, nothing.
~~~
This is stylistically not his best work by a considerable margin, the story doesn't flow quite perfectly, but Svevo nevertheless skewers the guilt and regret of men as they age, as he did so remarkably in Zeno's Conscience and particularly As A Man Grows Older. And I am currently experiencing it.
The term "tragico-comic" could have created just for Svevo. Or for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 23, 2018
|\| | |_ @ ® > M0127324
من کلیت ش رو دوست داشتم و کلا این کتاب رو از باب آماده سازی ذهنی برای مطالعه عنقریب وجدان زنو خوندم. کتاب ها اواسط ش خیلی خوب و جذاب و بامزه بود، اما اواخرش واقعا بی مزه و شعاری و مانیفستی بود و خیلی خوشم نیومد. در مجموع، به درد هر سلیقه ای نمیخوره.
من کلیت ش رو دوست داشتم و کلا این کتاب رو از باب آماده سازی ذهنی برای مطالعه عنقریب وجدان زنو خوندم. کتاب ها اواسط ش خیلی خوب و جذاب و بامزه بود، اما اواخرش واقعا بی مزه و شعاری و مانیفستی بود و خیلی خوشم نیومد. در مجموع، به درد هر سلیقه ای نمیخوره.
May 22, 2017
From what I can read about Italo Svevo he was about to become a successful writer. His greatest claims to fame was his last book and that he is believed to be a model for Harold Bloom in James Joyce's Ulysses. Svevo had just begun to gain recognition as a early writer of psychological realism when he died after an accident. The dust jacket to this volume suggests that his dying words occurred just after refusing a cigarette: " That would definitely have been my last cigarette."
This short story: The Nice Old Man and the Pretty Girl is as promised, a fair enough way to spend a few hours - 3 at most.
The nice old man is never identified by any other name than the Nice Old Man and the pretty girl is always the Pretty Girl. This would seem to insure that he is Every man (old guy division ) and she ... Young Woman Generic. I would argue that she is not intended to be Every Woman, as she seems to be a type based on class, education and general social condition.
What complicated this picture is that the Nice Old Man is also fairly well moneyed and unhindered by any pressing responsibilities, a few references to his business aside.
They meet first when her mother is asking for the Nice Old Man to aid her daughter to find paying work. His influence secures for her a position as a trolley car driver and he thinks nothing of her until they meet again on her trolley. What follows is that they have an affair, most discretely described, which he ends as his health begins to fail. For the remainder of the book he deals with his declining health and a belief that he can leave behind some kind of lesson to advantage future old men and nice girls. We never get information on what the girl feels about any of this or what she really thinks of him.
Because we have no reason to believe that the Nice Young Girl has any reservation about having an old man as a lover, I cannot accept that she was some how seduced. Alternately, he has money and power, so she may well have gone along with him for the money and possible access to a better career. In this more contemporary viewpoint, her decision to become an old man's bed mate may have reflected the relative balance of power between them. Staying within the story , the old man does come to believe that he has seduced and thereby occasioned a sin for which he must make good.
Svevo qualifies himself to make any number of positive statements about old men and how they differ from young. I rather wonder upon what these declarations are based. The writing is not spare as in Hemingway. It is fairly straight forward and if there is anything in the way of symbolism - beyond the every man conceit, it was not that obvious. This is a thinking persons kind of story, but neither too demanding nor particularly light.
This short story: The Nice Old Man and the Pretty Girl is as promised, a fair enough way to spend a few hours - 3 at most.
The nice old man is never identified by any other name than the Nice Old Man and the pretty girl is always the Pretty Girl. This would seem to insure that he is Every man (old guy division ) and she ... Young Woman Generic. I would argue that she is not intended to be Every Woman, as she seems to be a type based on class, education and general social condition.
What complicated this picture is that the Nice Old Man is also fairly well moneyed and unhindered by any pressing responsibilities, a few references to his business aside.
They meet first when her mother is asking for the Nice Old Man to aid her daughter to find paying work. His influence secures for her a position as a trolley car driver and he thinks nothing of her until they meet again on her trolley. What follows is that they have an affair, most discretely described, which he ends as his health begins to fail. For the remainder of the book he deals with his declining health and a belief that he can leave behind some kind of lesson to advantage future old men and nice girls. We never get information on what the girl feels about any of this or what she really thinks of him.
Because we have no reason to believe that the Nice Young Girl has any reservation about having an old man as a lover, I cannot accept that she was some how seduced. Alternately, he has money and power, so she may well have gone along with him for the money and possible access to a better career. In this more contemporary viewpoint, her decision to become an old man's bed mate may have reflected the relative balance of power between them. Staying within the story , the old man does come to believe that he has seduced and thereby occasioned a sin for which he must make good.
Svevo qualifies himself to make any number of positive statements about old men and how they differ from young. I rather wonder upon what these declarations are based. The writing is not spare as in Hemingway. It is fairly straight forward and if there is anything in the way of symbolism - beyond the every man conceit, it was not that obvious. This is a thinking persons kind of story, but neither too demanding nor particularly light.
September 28, 2025
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Ítalo Svevo aborda en esta historia breve las tensiones entre la vejez y la juventud atravesadas por ejes vinculados al amor, a lo moral y a lo social. Es una lectura sencilla y rápida para aproximarse a la obra del escritor italiano, que sigue siendo desconocida para muchos.
April 29, 2015
Unthinkable. I'm shocked! How is it possible for an older man have passions for a younger woman (girl)? Beyond knowing that this never happens to any male in the world - this short novella is an excellent read of an older man's passions and how he deals with it. Svevo know-how to get inside his character's head, so you're reading his thoughts, as he tries to make himself something that he clearly not. He wants to take the higher ground, but that is total fantasy on his part. And since the writer is an older man (like me) and that he writes about his life (sort of like me) -I of course, have interest in this narrative. Superb little book. It's nice to read literature that is positioned for the older male reader.
April 19, 2022
Adam yazarlığa yönelip düşüncelerini kaleme almaya başlarken tam doğru yolu buluyordu ki yine attı bütün suçu gençlere 🤦♀️ Gençler sağlıklı ve ahlaklı olsa yaşlılar günah işlemeyecekmiş. Evet, aynen öyle paşam.
October 8, 2007
Cuando me enteré de que 'La historia del buen viejo y la bella muchacha' de Svevo sólo tenía 100 páginas me sentí inevitablemente decepcionada, uno de los pocos libros de Svevo que me quedaban para leer y el único que tenía a mano y resultaba que era ridículamente corto y con una letrota gigante y unos márgenes obscenos. Pero ahora que he leído me doy cuenta que si tuviera más páginas sería un error, porque dura exactamente lo que tiene que durar. Y con lo que a mí me gustan las cosas breves, ni siquiera a Svevo, uno de mis escritores favoritos, le perdonaría que se alargara. Esta obrita no es ni tan ambiciosa como 'La conciencia de Zeno', ni tan fresca como 'Senectud', ni tan certera como 'Una vida', pero sigue siendo Svevo y Svevo es siempre genial.
El argumento, como siempre, es una pequeña anécdota. Un rico y viejo empresario de Trieste decide seducir a una jovencita humilde, que no es tan inocente como aparenta, para darse una última alegría. El punto de partida es muy similar al de 'Senectud', pero la cosa va por caminos muy distintos, mientras que 'Senectud' era más una obra sobre el miedo a vivir y los celos, ésta es más una obra sobre la hipocresía y la (falsa) moral. Aunque tienen en común, como siempre en Svevo, que los personajes son unos tipos grises que se autoengañan de una manera alarmante, que se niegan a ver la realidad cómo es. Una vez más Svevo se sale a la hora de retratar con una minuciosidad analítica impresionante la psicología del personaje, con todas sus complejidades, contradicciones y, sobre todo, hipocresías.
No es tan divertida como las otras, pero sigue siendo irónica y con una mala leche considerable. Me encanta el detalle de que al final el protagonista se ponga a escribir un tratado moral, cuando en realidad él nunca ha hecho gala de la moral que está predicando. Me encanta que todos los protagonistas de Svevo sean escritores fracasados. En este caso el fracaso es más flagrante, porque cada vez que el viejo se topa con un argumento que desmonta su teoría, guarda todo lo que ha escrito que no cuadra en un cajoncito y hace ver que lo ignora, como si allí no hubiera pasado nada, y lo cierto es que le funciona: se acaba olvidando de lo que no le gusta, como todos nosotros es un tipo que siempre se está autoengañando. Y me encanta que de pasada Svevo nos diga que nunca podremos montar una teoría que lo explique todo, que siempre habrá cosas que no cuadrarán, que la novela total no existe, que nunca podremos abarcarlo todo... Es que podría elogiarlo eternamente, pero me repetiría.
El argumento, como siempre, es una pequeña anécdota. Un rico y viejo empresario de Trieste decide seducir a una jovencita humilde, que no es tan inocente como aparenta, para darse una última alegría. El punto de partida es muy similar al de 'Senectud', pero la cosa va por caminos muy distintos, mientras que 'Senectud' era más una obra sobre el miedo a vivir y los celos, ésta es más una obra sobre la hipocresía y la (falsa) moral. Aunque tienen en común, como siempre en Svevo, que los personajes son unos tipos grises que se autoengañan de una manera alarmante, que se niegan a ver la realidad cómo es. Una vez más Svevo se sale a la hora de retratar con una minuciosidad analítica impresionante la psicología del personaje, con todas sus complejidades, contradicciones y, sobre todo, hipocresías.
No es tan divertida como las otras, pero sigue siendo irónica y con una mala leche considerable. Me encanta el detalle de que al final el protagonista se ponga a escribir un tratado moral, cuando en realidad él nunca ha hecho gala de la moral que está predicando. Me encanta que todos los protagonistas de Svevo sean escritores fracasados. En este caso el fracaso es más flagrante, porque cada vez que el viejo se topa con un argumento que desmonta su teoría, guarda todo lo que ha escrito que no cuadra en un cajoncito y hace ver que lo ignora, como si allí no hubiera pasado nada, y lo cierto es que le funciona: se acaba olvidando de lo que no le gusta, como todos nosotros es un tipo que siempre se está autoengañando. Y me encanta que de pasada Svevo nos diga que nunca podremos montar una teoría que lo explique todo, que siempre habrá cosas que no cuadrarán, que la novela total no existe, que nunca podremos abarcarlo todo... Es que podría elogiarlo eternamente, pero me repetiría.
October 18, 2017
I temi sono quelli cari a Svevo: vecchiaia, malattia, eros, introspezione psicanalitica, sogni, esigenza dello scrivere e del narrare …
I personaggi sono essenzialmente quelli del titolo: il buon vecchio, che tanto buono poi non è irretendo la fanciulla per assecondare le sue esigenze di amore e di eros, e la bella fanciulla, che, come si può facilmente presumere, tanto innocente non è neanche lei.
C’è infatti ampio spazio per l’ironia, tanto nel titolo quanto nel testo, di questa opera forse incompiuta (ho trovato on line anche un’altra versione di quella che ho letto, con un breve capitolo XII aggiuntivo che sembra lasciare spazio a possibili ulteriori sviluppi, mai più portati a compimento) e che rimase inedita sino alla morte dell’autore.
La forma è quella del breve apologo: l’immorale “vecchio”, dopo avere circuito (e pagato) la bella, complice una preoccupante caduta del suo stato di salute, cerca di giustificare (a se stesso per primo) il suo comportamento e si risolve nello scrivere un trattato di morale ed etica circa i rapporti tra vecchiaia e gioventù. E lo scrivere aiuterà l’introspezione.
Il risultato è una novella elegante e leggibilissima, drammatica e ironica allo stesso tempo, sintetica ed essenziale, priva di inutili fronzoli come si addice a un racconto, che lascia comunque il segno di un gigante della letteratura italiana quale fu Svevo.
Troveremo molti temi di questa storia più ampiamente articolati e diversamente sviluppati (come invece si addice a un romanzo) nella “Coscienza di Zeno”.
E forse è per questo che “La Novella” rimase nel cassetto.
I personaggi sono essenzialmente quelli del titolo: il buon vecchio, che tanto buono poi non è irretendo la fanciulla per assecondare le sue esigenze di amore e di eros, e la bella fanciulla, che, come si può facilmente presumere, tanto innocente non è neanche lei.
C’è infatti ampio spazio per l’ironia, tanto nel titolo quanto nel testo, di questa opera forse incompiuta (ho trovato on line anche un’altra versione di quella che ho letto, con un breve capitolo XII aggiuntivo che sembra lasciare spazio a possibili ulteriori sviluppi, mai più portati a compimento) e che rimase inedita sino alla morte dell’autore.
La forma è quella del breve apologo: l’immorale “vecchio”, dopo avere circuito (e pagato) la bella, complice una preoccupante caduta del suo stato di salute, cerca di giustificare (a se stesso per primo) il suo comportamento e si risolve nello scrivere un trattato di morale ed etica circa i rapporti tra vecchiaia e gioventù. E lo scrivere aiuterà l’introspezione.
Il risultato è una novella elegante e leggibilissima, drammatica e ironica allo stesso tempo, sintetica ed essenziale, priva di inutili fronzoli come si addice a un racconto, che lascia comunque il segno di un gigante della letteratura italiana quale fu Svevo.
Troveremo molti temi di questa storia più ampiamente articolati e diversamente sviluppati (come invece si addice a un romanzo) nella “Coscienza di Zeno”.
E forse è per questo che “La Novella” rimase nel cassetto.
September 19, 2015
"Vicdan azabı, insanın kendisini aynada görmesine benzer. Ve yaşlı adam kendisini değersiz ve küçük görüyordu."
Kitapta isminden de sezildiği üzere , yaşlı bir adamın, genç ve güzel bir kızın çekimine kapılması , sonrasında o yaşlı adamın vicdanı ve kendi arzuları arasında sıkışıp kalması anlatılıyordu.
Yazarın dilini çok akıcı buldum. Diğer kitaplarını da okumak isterim.
Kitapta isminden de sezildiği üzere , yaşlı bir adamın, genç ve güzel bir kızın çekimine kapılması , sonrasında o yaşlı adamın vicdanı ve kendi arzuları arasında sıkışıp kalması anlatılıyordu.
Yazarın dilini çok akıcı buldum. Diğer kitaplarını da okumak isterim.
December 8, 2022
"وقتی پای عمل به میان میآید، نظریهپردازان آدمهای بسیار کندی هستند."
از متن کتاب
از متن کتاب
November 26, 2025
Svevo si conferma un gigante della letteratura, anche solo nei suoi più brevi racconti, decisamente meno noti dei suoi tre romanzi principali. Tutti i temi principali della sua poetica li ritroviamo condensati in questi racconti, dall'inettitudine alla psicanalisi, la vecchiaia come momento contemplativo, la malattia. La prosa è sempre un po' articolata, ma l'animo umano è di per sé così complesso da rendere la scelta giustificata.
January 30, 2018
"Ah! Another tale of Old/Young love!" Now, let's be honest here..That's probably the first guess anyone would make after reading the title (and not the blurb, duh!)..Alright, Alright..It might also be a story where the Nice Old Man helps the Pretty Girl find her way in life..Coz you know,
he is Nice
and all that..I think, Svevo knew better than doing that to his readers..and went with the first guess..
Are you imagining the form this love takes? I did..Perhaps a brief affair with no strings attached? A lapse of judgement with torrid love-making and hasty goodbye? A sincere longing for new love? Well, it's all that and much more..
Now that you know better you might expect to find an old man mooning over a young girl..Well, I wish he had done just that..In retrospect I can add here..that the parties involved could be charged with prostitution, but for their continually morphing relationship and mutual consent..Hold your horses!! Svevo has upped the ante on how nice one can be..or atleast try to be..And there is no getting past our "Nice Old Man"..The book is not so much about the "forbidden love" as it is about our "nice old man" trying..and let me warn you, he tries real hard..to be nice..And for a better half of the novella wrings his mind and puts it through imaginary tortures..All of it to assuage his conscience..
It is funny how people nonchalantly talk about Karma, as if it is prowling about waiting for the right moment to pounce, when they should talk more about the conscience..One can wait for Karma to catch up..But one can never get rid of the conscience, that unrelenting force breathing down one's neck with life of its own..And it is the conscience that comes full force in this novella..Not as after the fact guilt..No, the old man is too nice to feel guilty about something..So he sets about fitting his actions under the stretched envelope of social norms..And doing so costs him a lot..physically, mentally as well as morally..
This is a short read..Little boring towards the end..But Svevo has kept it from becoming unbearable..barely, but surely..And one finds his means to that end absolutely justified..
Are you imagining the form this love takes? I did..Perhaps a brief affair with no strings attached? A lapse of judgement with torrid love-making and hasty goodbye? A sincere longing for new love? Well, it's all that and much more..
Now that you know better you might expect to find an old man mooning over a young girl..Well, I wish he had done just that..In retrospect I can add here..that the parties involved could be charged with prostitution, but for their continually morphing relationship and mutual consent..Hold your horses!! Svevo has upped the ante on how nice one can be..or atleast try to be..And there is no getting past our "Nice Old Man"..The book is not so much about the "forbidden love" as it is about our "nice old man" trying..and let me warn you, he tries real hard..to be nice..And for a better half of the novella wrings his mind and puts it through imaginary tortures..All of it to assuage his conscience..
It is funny how people nonchalantly talk about Karma, as if it is prowling about waiting for the right moment to pounce, when they should talk more about the conscience..One can wait for Karma to catch up..But one can never get rid of the conscience, that unrelenting force breathing down one's neck with life of its own..And it is the conscience that comes full force in this novella..Not as after the fact guilt..No, the old man is too nice to feel guilty about something..So he sets about fitting his actions under the stretched envelope of social norms..And doing so costs him a lot..physically, mentally as well as morally..
This is a short read..Little boring towards the end..But Svevo has kept it from becoming unbearable..barely, but surely..And one finds his means to that end absolutely justified..
June 30, 2022
A pesar de que co título desta obra podemos deducir cal pode ser o seu argumento, paréceme que non debemos quedarnos co feito de que Svevo quería escribir acerca dun señor de idade avanzada, e boa posición tanto social como económica, que tenta seducir a unha rapariga humilde e aparentemente inxenua. Debemos mirar máis aló do argumento e centrarnos en comprender os temas presentes neste relato, temas como a vellez, as relacións entre persoas de distintas idades, a culpa e a vergoña, ou a perda dos valores.
Teño que dicir que gustoume moito o estilo de Svevo á hora de construír unha narración, que funciona moi ben como unha especie de confesión que o noso narrador vai facendo acerca da vida do vello, e sen deixar de abordar eses temas que o autor necesitaba expresar e sobre os que os lectores terán tempo de reflexionar unha vez concluída a lectura, pois de verdade estamos a falar dunha desas obras que un non abandona tras ler a última páxina e que dan lugar a moitos pensamentos.
[+en https://daybreakovertheocean.wordpres...]
Teño que dicir que gustoume moito o estilo de Svevo á hora de construír unha narración, que funciona moi ben como unha especie de confesión que o noso narrador vai facendo acerca da vida do vello, e sen deixar de abordar eses temas que o autor necesitaba expresar e sobre os que os lectores terán tempo de reflexionar unha vez concluída a lectura, pois de verdade estamos a falar dunha desas obras que un non abandona tras ler a última páxina e que dan lugar a moitos pensamentos.
[+en https://daybreakovertheocean.wordpres...]
March 1, 2016
Tre considerazioni veloci: 2.0 , LOL, ú.ú
- Grazie Amazon per diffondere gratuitamente questi racconti che altrimenti resterebbero sconosciuti. (Tre stelle a Svevo, una a Amazon). Non sono amante degli ebook, ma questi "regali" meritano d'essere accettati. Bisogna entrare nell'epoca 2.0.
- Non mi ricordavo assolutamente che Italo Svevo fosse un autore anche ironico. Come dicono parecchi nell'epoca 2.0 Questo è uno svevo strano LoL
- Finale quasi "identico" a L'uomo che guardava passare i treni. Come mai Svevo e' considerato un grande scrittore-psicologo del Novecento e Simenon solo un giallista? ú.ú
Fra qualche ora commento
- Grazie Amazon per diffondere gratuitamente questi racconti che altrimenti resterebbero sconosciuti. (Tre stelle a Svevo, una a Amazon). Non sono amante degli ebook, ma questi "regali" meritano d'essere accettati. Bisogna entrare nell'epoca 2.0.
- Non mi ricordavo assolutamente che Italo Svevo fosse un autore anche ironico. Come dicono parecchi nell'epoca 2.0 Questo è uno svevo strano LoL
- Finale quasi "identico" a L'uomo che guardava passare i treni. Come mai Svevo e' considerato un grande scrittore-psicologo del Novecento e Simenon solo un giallista? ú.ú
Fra qualche ora commento
October 18, 2022
1/5⭐️
bu kitap mi klasik? bu yazar mi italyanin ennnn iyi yazarlarindan?
kitaba yorum atan insanlarin "yazar mesajlari cok iyi vermis." tarzinda seyler yazdiklarini gorunce kafayi yedim.
neyin mesaji? Yasli bi adamin genc bir kiza hallenip sonra da suclu o kizmis gibi bunu anlatmasi mi? (sonda pisman oluyor ama bu sefer de diyor ki gencler boyle olmasa yaslilarda boyle olmazdi??? stfu aqqq)
yazarin igrenc bir insan olmasindan bahsetmiyorum bile, kendisi cinsiyetci ve irkci biri ve kitapta bunu o kadar belli etmis ki bu kadar rahat yazmis olmasi midemi bulandirdi.
bkz. "Güzel kadınlar, ilk bakışta bizde zeki oldukları izlemini bırakır. Gerçekten de güzel bir ten rengi veya vücut, en zeki akılların emaresidir."
(bu en basit orneklerden biri. cok daha fazlasi var)
ozetle cok kotu bir okumaydi, bu yazardan hic bir sey okumayin. byee
bu kitap mi klasik? bu yazar mi italyanin ennnn iyi yazarlarindan?
kitaba yorum atan insanlarin "yazar mesajlari cok iyi vermis." tarzinda seyler yazdiklarini gorunce kafayi yedim.
neyin mesaji? Yasli bi adamin genc bir kiza hallenip sonra da suclu o kizmis gibi bunu anlatmasi mi? (sonda pisman oluyor ama bu sefer de diyor ki gencler boyle olmasa yaslilarda boyle olmazdi??? stfu aqqq)
yazarin igrenc bir insan olmasindan bahsetmiyorum bile, kendisi cinsiyetci ve irkci biri ve kitapta bunu o kadar belli etmis ki bu kadar rahat yazmis olmasi midemi bulandirdi.
bkz. "Güzel kadınlar, ilk bakışta bizde zeki oldukları izlemini bırakır. Gerçekten de güzel bir ten rengi veya vücut, en zeki akılların emaresidir."
(bu en basit orneklerden biri. cok daha fazlasi var)
ozetle cok kotu bir okumaydi, bu yazardan hic bir sey okumayin. byee
June 11, 2013
Un libro corto e molto semplice ma che porta una bellissima storia. Non immaginavo questo quando l'ho cominciato.
Inoltre, come sempre che sceglio un libro in biblioteca, questo ha molte somiglianze con la mia vita. Incredibile l'occhio che ho. Mi è piaciuto così tanto lo stile, il uso delle parole... Voglio assolutamente leggere più di Italo Svevo. :)
Inoltre, come sempre che sceglio un libro in biblioteca, questo ha molte somiglianze con la mia vita. Incredibile l'occhio che ho. Mi è piaciuto così tanto lo stile, il uso delle parole... Voglio assolutamente leggere più di Italo Svevo. :)
August 12, 2024
Hikayemiz, yaşlı bir adam ile genç ve güzel bir kız arasındaki ilişkiyi anlatıyor..
Svevo, bu öyküde yaşlılık, zamanın geçişi ve aşkın değişen doğası gibi temaları ele almış. Öykü, Svevo'nun karakterlerinin iç dünyalarını keşfetme konusundaki yeteneğini gösterse de konu ve anlatım çok düz geldi bana..
Modern edebiyatta önemli yeri var diye okuduğum yazarın ilk kitabı..sanırım pek benlik değil..
Svevo, bu öyküde yaşlılık, zamanın geçişi ve aşkın değişen doğası gibi temaları ele almış. Öykü, Svevo'nun karakterlerinin iç dünyalarını keşfetme konusundaki yeteneğini gösterse de konu ve anlatım çok düz geldi bana..
Modern edebiyatta önemli yeri var diye okuduğum yazarın ilk kitabı..sanırım pek benlik değil..
June 6, 2018
از عنوان کتاب میشود حدس زد که با چه داستانی طرفیم. نویسنده با گزندگی از زوال و وهم مینویسد و از ریا که آن دو را فضیلت مینمایاند
November 15, 2023
Yasli bir adamin gonlu genc bir kiza kayar. Bundan sucluluk duyacak degildir, elbette kizin da kendine gonlu vardir. (Kizin her gun yarim saatcik yikanma istegine istinaden).Olmasa bile kizin gencligine ve guzelligine karsin kendisinin de kiza verebilecegi seyler vardir. Arka planda savas devam etmektedir. Adam savas sayesinde zengin olmustur. Kiz fakir ve actir. Ona vatmanlik isini bulur. Kizla tekrar karsilastiginda onu tanir ve daha iyi bir is bulacagi vaadiyle evine cagirir. Sofradaki yemeklerle kizi buyuler, kiz kendini adamin kollarina birakir. Evden ayrilirken kiza para verir ve Almanca ogrenmesini tavsiye eder. Evinin kahyasi kadin ona suclayici bakislar yoneltmistir ama adamin vicdani rahattir cunku o ihtiyaci olan bir kiza yardim etmektedir. Birkac ay bu sekilde devam eden iliskileri sonunda (adam cani isteyince kizi cagirmakta ve evden ayrilirken ona para vermekte ama her seferinde verdigi paranin az mi cok mu oldugunu kestirememekte, cunku piyasa degerini bilmiyor, ama bir isadami sonucta) nihayet adamin yasli vucudu bu tempoya dayanamaz ve kalp krizi gecirir. Doktoru genckizi gormesini yasaklar. Yasli adam bir gun genckizi yaninda genc bir adamla gorur ve kiskanclik krizine kapilir. Kizi eve davet edip ona ahlak uzerine vaaz vermeyi tasarlar. Hemsiresi buna siddetle karsi cikar fakat yasli adam amacinin saf iyilik oldugunu soyler. Kiz gelince ona genc adamin kim oldugunu sorar, kiz onun kuzeni oldugunu soyler ve yasli adami opmek ister. Yasli adam hasta oldugunu ve artik eskisi gibi bir iliskileri olamayacagini soyler, kiz kendisini evlatlik alabilecegini belirtir. Yasli adam bir is adami bilinciyle sorar; bunu neden yapayim. Kiz da beni bastan cikaran sizsiniz der, bu adamin hosuna gider ama ask iki kisiliktir der. Kiza yine para verir ve gonderir. Fakat cimrilik yaptigini dusunur ve ertesi gun kiza daha cok para yollar, hatta vasiyetini yeniden duzenleyip tum mal varligini kiza birakir. Adam kizla gorusmesinden sonra tekrar bir kalp krizi gecirmistir. Bundan sonra iyice kendini genclerin ahlaki uzerine dusunmeye verir. Yaslilarin ahlaksizligi genclerin ahlaksizligindan ileri gelmektedir ona gore. Doktoru yasli adamin boyle yazilar yazmasinin ona iyi geldigini fark eder ve onu tesvik eder. Fakat yasli adamla ayni goruste degildir. Yasli adamin hastaliginin artmamasi icin onunla tartismaktan kacinir, fakat bir seferinde ona guler ve yasliligin bir hastalik olarak goruldugunu soyler. Yasli adam bundan sonra fikirlerini paylasmaktan kacinir ve tum genclere yol gosterecek ve yaslilarin genclerden ne bekledigini aciklayan bir kilavuz yazmaya koyulur. Fakat en sonunda dusuncelerini toparlayamaz olur ve butun kagitlariniin ustune HIC BIR SEY yazar. Son nefesini de boyle verir.
Kart bir zamparanin ahlak ve vicdan muhasebesi.
Kart bir zamparanin ahlak ve vicdan muhasebesi.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 8, 2022
Insanin icindeki zitliklarin nasil vicdan muhasebesi yaptirdigina ait bir hikaye
May 29, 2011
A bit disappointed in this. The "nice old man" of the title isn't really all that nice but neither so evil that the appellation could be considered ironic or facetious. The pretty young girl is mostly a cypher: we learn nothing about her, save that she's twenty-years old, drives a tram, and is pretty. She's uneducated, but probably no more or less so than her contemporaries (she can read and write, although only in the local dialects). Set in Trieste during the First World War, when all the young men are off fighting and those left behind suffer from war-time privations, il Vecchio plies la Fanciulla with food. And she's quite willing to be seduced, though whether she genuinely likes older men or it's merely a case that they are the only men available isn't explored.
The greater part of the book happens in the old man's apartment, indeed within his head. He suffers pangs of guilt (though for what exactly we're left to imagine: nothing more graphic than kissing is explicitly mentioned) which manifests itself as angina. He takes to his bed, broods, fights with his physician and housekeeper, and stays away from the girl for months at a time. Finally, he gets the idea that he should write a treatise on the mutual duties and responsibilities of the young and old to each other. And then he dies, these questions unresolved.
Ettore Schmidt was a fairly well-to-do businessman in Trieste at the turn of the last century, who decided to take English lessons at the Berlitz school there; the young teacher assigned to his was named James Joyce. In the years before the First War, they became great friends. Some speculate that Schmidt was at least partially a model for Leopold Bloom: Schmidt was—like Bloom—a non-practicing Jew, living in an overwhelmingly Catholic city at the edge of an empire (the Austro-Hungarian at the time). He also had literary ambitions, which Joyce amongst others encouraged. Under the pen-name Italo Svevo (literally "an Italian Swabian") he published a number of works, and I was looking forward to getting into his new author via this pleasant-looking novella.
Things started out well: il Vecchio first notices the girl on a wild tram ride across the city. I found it quite engaging, but soon the action (as it were) moved to the apartment, and then stopped altogether. Oh well; perhaps I'll try another some day.
The greater part of the book happens in the old man's apartment, indeed within his head. He suffers pangs of guilt (though for what exactly we're left to imagine: nothing more graphic than kissing is explicitly mentioned) which manifests itself as angina. He takes to his bed, broods, fights with his physician and housekeeper, and stays away from the girl for months at a time. Finally, he gets the idea that he should write a treatise on the mutual duties and responsibilities of the young and old to each other. And then he dies, these questions unresolved.
Ettore Schmidt was a fairly well-to-do businessman in Trieste at the turn of the last century, who decided to take English lessons at the Berlitz school there; the young teacher assigned to his was named James Joyce. In the years before the First War, they became great friends. Some speculate that Schmidt was at least partially a model for Leopold Bloom: Schmidt was—like Bloom—a non-practicing Jew, living in an overwhelmingly Catholic city at the edge of an empire (the Austro-Hungarian at the time). He also had literary ambitions, which Joyce amongst others encouraged. Under the pen-name Italo Svevo (literally "an Italian Swabian") he published a number of works, and I was looking forward to getting into his new author via this pleasant-looking novella.
Things started out well: il Vecchio first notices the girl on a wild tram ride across the city. I found it quite engaging, but soon the action (as it were) moved to the apartment, and then stopped altogether. Oh well; perhaps I'll try another some day.
August 13, 2015
Molto noioso come tutta la produzione di Svevo. Nonostante gli anni passino, non riesco a farmi piacere questo autore. Il suo intento era quello di descrivere l'amore senile poco corretto di un vecchio per una ragazzina. I due personaggi sono anche l'incarnazione del seduttore borghese e della seduttrice popolana. Mentre il primo, mano a mano che consuma il propro amore, si ammalerà maggiormente, la seconda diventerà via via più disincantata e meno timida. La fanciulla incarna la giovinezza inseguita dal vecchio che precipita ancor di più verso gli acciacchi. Di fatto è il motivo per cui egli avanza velocemente verso la morte che lui ha cercato assiduamente, poichè ha fatto sempre in modo di avere la bella sedotta e seduttrice accanto a se'. Da qui nasce l'amore per la scrittura, che è ciò che rimane dopo la morte del protagonista.
Il solito libro contorto e noiosissimo.
Il solito libro contorto e noiosissimo.
March 16, 2017
Wry, insidious, and farcical, this novella left me with a light heart deeply moved. The meaning of the last few pages could be debated endlessly, I imagine, but my interpretation left me utterly satisfied, and by some measure in greater peace with myself.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews