Viareggio Prize (Premio Viareggio / Premio Letterario Viareggio-Rèpaci)
嘘と魔法 上 (須賀敦子の本棚 4)
Set in Sicily, this novel follows a lonely narrator as she rethreads the memories of the women who precede her - grandmother, mother, and herself - and recounts a family history of secrets, desire, and betrayal through a blend of fact and invention. Its lush storytelling and layered family saga make it one of the defining debut novels of postwar Italian literature.
Work Information
A voice that moves between fact and invention gathers three generations of women into a single, expansive family saga.
Elsa Morante's debut novel tells a Sicilian family history through the voice of Elisa, a lonely narrator who folds love, jealousy, betrayal, and fantasy into a single account. The fates of three generations of women unfold alongside private memory and social injustice, bringing the power and danger of storytelling itself to the foreground.
Review Summaries
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It is praised for placing women's desires and self-deceptions at the center while exposing the chill of class and power beneath its fantastical surface. Readers and critics alike see it as a richly written, deeply layered novel with the scale of a major literary epic.
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It is described as an ambitious novel with the surface of a nineteenth-century classic, yet one that relentlessly exposes self-regard and class consciousness. Its force comes from the way it confronts women's lives without hesitation or restraint.
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Its ornate and abundant prose is seen as widening a family story set in southern Italy into something shaped by social division and insecurity. The novel's refusal to fear excess is often cited as the source of its old-fashioned, sweeping power.
Book Information
- Publisher
- 河出書房新社
- Published
- 2018-12-18
- Pages
- 436 pages
- Language
- 日本語
- Size
- 13.7 x 3.1 x 19.6 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9784309619941
- ISBN-10
- 4309619940
- Price
- 3300 JPY
- Category
- 本/文学・評論/文芸作品/イタリア文学
現代イタリア文学の金字塔とされる大作を初紹介。天涯孤独の少女が、祖母、母、自分の三代にわたる女性たちの激動の生涯を物語る。
1912年ローマ生まれ。現代イタリア最大の作家の一人。本書でヴィアレッジョ賞、『アルトゥーロの島』でストレーガ賞。ほかに『歴史』『アンダルシアの肩かけ』など。夫はアルベルト・モラヴィア。 1953年東京生まれ。上智大学大学院外国語学部言語学専攻修士課程修了。訳書に、イサム・ノグチ『エッセイ』、ジャン・ルオー『名誉の戦場』、エルサ・モランテ『アンダルシアの肩かけ』など。