Jameela Lares, Department of English, University of Southern Mississippi
was looking for one twentieth-century Italian author to include in a World
Literature course. Here is my suggestion:
_Sostiene Pereira_ (1994) by Antonio Tabucchi (who recently won the
Aristeion European Literature Prize), is available in an English
translation (_Declares Pereira_) by Patrick Creagh, one of the most gifted
translators from Italian. It is well worth considering as a book which
handles large political and human themes --- the search for justice and
self-respect under a brutal authoritarian government --- in a delicate,
humane fashion. The setting is Portugal in 1938, but the resonances are far
wider than that. The story is sometimes funny as well as sad, and always
extremely readable. There is a good film of the book starring Marcello
Mastroianni in one of his last screen appearances.
Cormac O Cuilleanain
Trinity College Dublin
Cormac O Cuilleanain
Department of Italian, Trinity College Dublin
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work telephone Dublin 6081527
home telephone Dublin 2831393
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