tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post4625713156514673520..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: Now that Italian valor lies uprooted, one huge ruin - Leopardi, Belli, Manzoni, NievoAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-20240499409135198342015-01-07T23:34:06.997-06:002015-01-07T23:34:06.997-06:00You'll read I don't remember how many hund...You'll read I don't remember how many hundred pages of Manzoni thinking "where is this plague I heard tell of." But when it comes, Manzoni rivals and surpasses Tuchman. I am sure she had read Manzoni, even though her period was 300 years earlier.<br /><br /><i>It'd make life so much simpler</i> - true, in good and bad ways.<br /><br />Harold Norse's Belli has all of 46 poems, so I suppose that, yes, there is maybe a little bit of room for more translators and translations.<br /><br />I had seen that Amazon review, and similarly took it as a kind of dare. I had not seen the Tim Parks piece. Very funny. He read the novel in Italian but clearly only knew about it because of the UK translation. The Nievo novel is a good example for his point.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-57537329847070914222015-01-07T23:02:18.504-06:002015-01-07T23:02:18.504-06:00Séamus - At the risk of poisoning the book with ex...Séamus - At the risk of poisoning the book with excess enthusiasm, I'll simply volunteer that yes, <i>The Betrothed</i> is great. Quite possibly, it's the one novel I'd pause to yank off the shelf while fleeing a fire. The plague is but a part of it - but what a part of it. <br />seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-29275531739809954352015-01-07T19:57:56.073-06:002015-01-07T19:57:56.073-06:00Hmm The Betrothed sounds great, I love the plague ...Hmm The Betrothed sounds great, I love the plague in books. Defoe, Camus, and Tuchman's books about it are all favourites. (I could make some joke about it being catchy but I'll refrain.)Séamus Dugganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00574186409184247059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-3207397860778729602015-01-07T19:38:42.521-06:002015-01-07T19:38:42.521-06:00I knew I had read Nievo's name before, and in ...I knew I had read Nievo's name before, and in fact Tim Parks mentions him in a couple of times in an article:<br /><br />http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2014/nov/11/why-read-new-books/LMRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08538873868140070018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-72124891001663816782015-01-07T19:36:31.629-06:002015-01-07T19:36:31.629-06:00Italo Calvino loves the book, but he is not to be ...<i>Italo Calvino loves the book, but he is not to be trusted, since he, like me, likes everything.</i><br /><br />Damn it, I wish I had that gift! It'd make life so much simpler.LMRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08538873868140070018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-27682963416926263472015-01-07T17:20:01.757-06:002015-01-07T17:20:01.757-06:00Well, Belli wrote some 2,000 sonnets, so maybe the...Well, Belli wrote some 2,000 sonnets, so maybe there should be <i>more</i> translations, not fewer. I suspect poet-translators like the challenge of that dialect, which looks on the page like a severe case of Italian dysgraphia. <br /><br />The sole reviewer on Amazon has said of Nievo's book, "If you think I Promessi Sposi is THE Italian novel of the 19th century, think again, and read Confessions of an Italian." Those could be construed as fighting words, so I'm nearly <i>obliged</i> to read it. seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-91031838605789108282015-01-07T14:39:15.193-06:002015-01-07T14:39:15.193-06:00Belli is a mystery - how can there be so many tran...Belli is a mystery - how can there be so many translations? Poets love him. No idea who else is interested. I like the idea that Verga made use of him. Verga has a kind of "out of nowhere" feel about him, too.<br /><br />That Nievo book practically has "seraillon" stamped on it. I'm surprised Penguin didn't send you a preemptive copy. I usually think of Penguin Classics as being aimed at college classrooms, but who would assign that thing?<br /><br />I think the books get a lot shorter from here on out.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-1278392205126976482015-01-07T13:49:47.489-06:002015-01-07T13:49:47.489-06:00A truck. I'm definitely going to need a truck,...A truck. I'm definitely going to need a truck, especially if you keep turning up 1,000 page novels and gigantic volumes like <i>Zibaldone</i>. The new Nievo translation seems far too tempting to pass up. <br /><br />Belli is <i>so</i> good. I discovered him just prior to the new year and have been plunged into three sets of translations, plus others that are on-line. The sonnets that are neither profane nor obscene offer some great raw slices of big raw life. I wonder if Giovanni Verga was a fan?seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.com