Voices from the Plains - Softcover

Celati, Gianni

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1852421436 ISBN 13: 9781852421434

Publisher: Serpent's Tail, 1990

Synopsis

Stories illuminate the lives of a variety of people in modern Italy who must cope with the banality of life and the need to keep up appearances

About this title

About the Author:

Gianni Celati, who currently lives in Bologna, is one of Italy's most important writers. In 1990, he was awarded the Mondello Prize, the most important Italian literary award. He is the author of six works of fiction.

From Publishers Weekly:

In what amounts to a cantata, the narrators evaporate, leaving behind brief tales that establish the tellers' existences by recording their inability to overcome alienation and despair. Celati, an Italian, adopts a deceptively simple style in both his language and structure to weave angst into the stuff of myth: his generous, panoramic vision imparts a fable-like quality to what might otherwise have been merely a string of absurd sketches. Across his pages flit children oppressed by ennui; a scholar who rewrites classic works in order to supply each with a happy ending; a multigenerational trio that uses encephalographs to pinpoint just what "makes the world go on"; a barber who looks for tangible proof of his " 'sistence." Many of the disembodied "voices" here have been undone by the inadequacies of language--a trendy theme that Celati develops imaginatively and integrates with delicacy. This English-language debut merits serious attention--and applause.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Serpent's Tail
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 1852421436
• ISBN 13: 9781852421434
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 144