Arturo's Island: A Novel Isola Di Arturo. English

Elsa Morante’s novels are “astonishing for the quality of the writing, . . . the complexity of the invented world, the wide-ranging view of the human condition” (Elena Ferrante). Once considered the greatest writer of Italy’s postwar generation—and admired by authors as varied as John Banville and Rivka Galchen—Elsa Morante is experiencing a literary renaissance, marked not least by Ann Goldstein’s translation of Arturo’s Island, the novel that brought Morante international fame. Imbued with a spectral grace, as if told through an enchanted looking glass, the novel follows the adolescent Arturo through his days on the isolated Neapolitan island of Procida, where—his mother long deceased, his father often absent, and a dog as his sole companion—he roams the countryside and the beaches or reads in his family’s lonely, dilapidated mansion. This quiet, meandering existence is upended when his father brings home a beautiful sixteen-year-old bride, Nunziatella. A novel of longing and thwarted desires, filled with Morante’s “brutal directness and familial torment” (James Wood), Arturo’s Island reemerges in this splendid translation to take its rightful place in the world literary canon. "Astonishing for the quality of the writing . . . the complexity of the invented world, the wide- ranging view of the human condition."— Elena Ferrante Elsa Morante's novels were once considered the greatest of Italy's postwar generation. Here, Ann Goldstein's "deft translation" (Madeline Schwartz, New York Review of Books) of Arturo's Island heralds a "second life" for the beloved author, finally garnering Morante "the new readers she deserves" (Lily Tuck, Wall Street Journal). Imbued with a spectral grace, the novel follows the adolescent Arturo through his days on the isolated Neapolitan island of Procida, where—his mother long deceased, his father often absent, and a dog as his sole companion—he roams the countryside or reads in his family's lonely, dilapidated mansion. This quiet, meandering boyhood existence is existentially upended when his father brings home a beautiful sixteen- year- old bride, Nunziatella. A novel of thwarted desires, written with "the power of malediction" (Dwight Garner, New York Times), Arturo's Island reemerges to take its rightful place in the world literary canon. "On a small island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, there lives a boy as innocent of sin and the great world as a seabird. Arturo's mother is dead; his father away - we are never quite sure where. Black-clad women care for him, run the house, give him the freedom to come and go as he likes.Then the father returns from the mainland with a new wife, Nunziata, who is in fact a girl barely older than Arturo himself. At first hatred and contempt are all the boy feels for his stepmother, but she responds differently and soon his hatred is replaced by feelings that are strange to him. On this island, as distant from the real world as the fantastical Bermuda in Shakespeare's The Tempest, Arturo and Nunziata recreate the tragedy and passion that are as old as the history of men and women."--BOOK JACKET. Follows The Adolescent Arturo Through His Days On The Isolated Neapolitan Island Of Procida, Where -- His Mother Long Deceased, His Father Often Absent, And A Dog As His Sole Companion -- He Roams The Countryside And The Beaches Or Reads In His Family’s Lonely, Dilapidated Mansion. This Quiet, Meandering Existence Is Upended When His Father Brings Home A Beautiful Sixteen-year-old Bride, Nunziatella-- Elsa Morante ; Translated By Ann Goldstein. The isolated Neapolitan island of Procida. His mother long deceased, his father often absent, and a dog as his sole companion, Arturo roams the countryside and the beaches or reads in his family's lonely, dilapidated mansion. This quiet, meandering existence is upended when his father brings home a sixteen-year-old bride, Nunziatella. Arturo's yearning for his naive stepmother leads to a slow fraying of family relationships.--Adapted from jacket "Follows the adolescent Arturo through his days on the isolated Neapolitan island of Procida, where -- his mother long deceased, his father often absent, and a dog as his sole companion -- he roams the countryside and the beaches or reads in his family's lonely, dilapidated mansion. This quiet, meandering existence is upended when his father brings home a beautiful sixteen-year-old bride, Nunziatella"-- adapted from Amazon.com