I'm back with a HUGE PILE OF ITALIAN BOOKS!!!!!

Haha would've been fine either way but I was thinking of asking you. Cool will mail you sometime this week to arrange :)

Nice enough account of the latest translations of Ginzburg's quietly tragic books:

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/07/18/natalia-ginzburg-driest-eye/

I really enjoyed this article - the book plots it describes are wonderful. https://t.co/ZDsoD0ObEf

— Laura Waddell (@lauraewaddell) December 17, 2020

This piece on Roberto Calasso is pretty great

https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/the-sorcerer

Nice piece on Frederika Randall, an American-born translator of Italian lit.

https://nybooks.com/articles/2021/09/23/frederika-randall-emissary-of-italian-prose/

I was compiling a list of wants (its getting small as I think I am running out of stuff I am interested in reading) and came across this. The Charles Rosen foreword caught my eye.

https://www.nyrb.com/collections/classics/products/memoirs-of-lorenzo-da-ponte?variant=1094930221

Also, NYRB are issuing Elsa Morante's first novel next year.

https://www.nyrb.com/collections/forthcoming/products/lies-and-sorcery?variant=42438724681896

oh wow. I'm a huge morante fan, that's giant news for me

That would mean all her novels have had at least one complete translation into English.

yeah it's a giant deal. finding a copy of arturo's island at the cincinnati public library when I did an event there was a big deal to me -- copies on alibris were prohibitively expensive & they let me take it home for later return. it's good, Aracoeli was my entry point so it'll probably always be my favorite.

Though History was my first by her I think Aracoeli is my favourite, it's such a strange, one kind of a book (just ahead of Arturo, I took out the old translation from the library too. I should get the new translation)

Important essay on Natalia Ginzburg's politics, and how her adoption as a feminist writer isn't a straightforward matter.

Natalia Ginzburg wrote brilliant fiction, but she was also deeply involved in Italian left-wing politics. From abortion to adoption laws, and feminism to her conception of her Jewish identity – I wrote about her politics for @VersoBooks https://t.co/7ll6DzOaHb pic.twitter.com/67e7driLcs

— Francesca Peacock (@cesca_peacock) July 28, 2022

I read Voices in the Evening last year and immediately bought everything of hers I could get my hands on, she's amazing

Yes, I remember hearing about her through my love for Pavese, checking her out - got everything out of the library that I could and delighted that this revival has taken hold. It doesn't matter that Ginzburg and Morante are being marketed in a post-Ferrante world, its great to see.

I also would like to see a similar piece written on Sciasca's political career.