Alcina and Other Stories - Guido Gozzano

Alcina and Other Stories by Guido Gozzano, translated by Brendan and Anna Connell / ISBN 9784294093313 / 174-page paperback from Snuggly Books

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The Turin born Guido Gozzano was the first and finest representative of the Crepuscolari, the poets of the Twilight. Before his tragically early death from consumption at the age of thirty-five he produced two short volumes of verse, La via del rifugio and I colloqui, which quickly became renown for their quietly perfect evocations of nature, melancholy, tenderness and nostalgia.

But unknown to most English speakers Gozzano also wrote short stories, Contes Cruels influenced by Poe and Maupassant, and aesthetic prose nightmares, which display the same delicate crepuscular style and sense of tragic absurdism.

Within the pages of Alcina and Other Stories, the reader will find “The Real Face,” the bizarre fate of a promising young artist whose works grow too close to nature; “A Romantic Story,” a Gothic tragedy; and “The Soul of the Instrument,” a Symbolist fairy tale after the manner of Lorrain and Wilde; along with other morbid and fantastic pieces.

An exquisite item for those interested in Italian poets of the early twentieth century and the various literary movements which bloomed in that country in the years following the fin de siècle.

Guido Gozzano (1883-1916) was an Italian writer and poet, whose name is often associated with the post-decadent Crepuscolari movement. Though mostly remembered for his poetry, he also wrote numerous short stories and fables, a volume of travel writings, and a script for a film on the life of St. Francis of Assisi.

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