All the errors : stories / translated from the Italian by Henry Martin

Until the appearance of All the Errors in 1990, Giorgio Manganelli's works had been translated into every major Western language except English: Henry Martin's fluid translation redresses the oversight of this eloquent, meticulous Italian master, presenting a book of Manganelli's distinctively original shorter fictions. These are seven narratives of metaphysical exploration. One story is the valedictory monologue of a soul on the verge of being born; another tells of a labyrinth that enters itself, seeking to explain its own pathways; in still another, a man and a woman offer mirroring explanations of why they cannot love each other. These are tales of solitude, yet a solitude touched with hope, and they share an allegiance to the themes of Sartre, Camus, Kafka, and Calvino.

Giorgio Manganelli was born in Milan in 1922, but lived most of his adult life in Rome, where he died in 1990. In the early 1960s he was a member of the avant-garde group "Gruppo '63," which included Italo Calvino, Umberto Eco, Gianfranco Baruchello, Antonio Porta, and others. After the appearance of Hilarotragoedia in 1964, he went on to publish a remarkable series of books novels, essays, commentaries, anatomies, travel books, and short stories in addition to becoming known to the general public as a prolific reviewer and commentator for newspapers and magazines. Centuria appeared in 1979 and was awarded that year's Viareggio Prize, generally held to be Italy's most prestigious literary award. His works have appeared in French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Greek, Polish, Bohemian, Serbo-Croatian, and Hungarian. Centuria after our publication in 1990 of All the Errors is his second book to appear in English translation. <P>Henry Martin is editor and principle translator of McPherson & Company s Italian fiction program. Born in Philadelphia in 1942, he has lived for many years in the Italian Alps. A noted art critic as well, his writings have appeared in many publications. Among his many books are two innovative and popular collaborations with Gianfranco Baruchello, How to Imagine and Why Duchamp, published by Documentext/McPherson.