Signorina and Other Stories

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20th-century Italian literature
Category=FYB
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eq_fiction
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Italian short stories
Italian women writers
women in literature

Product details

  • ISBN 9780873527927
  • Weight: 303g
  • Dimensions: 134 x 204mm
  • Publication Date: 30 Jan 2001
  • Publisher: Modern Language Association of America
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Product Form: Paperback
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Greatly influenced by writers ranging from Dickens and Proust to Woolf and Colette, Anna Banti was a prominent figure on the Italian literary scene from the 1940s until her death in 1985. The five tales in "The Signorina" and Other Stories display her talent across many genres—fiction, science fiction, historical fiction, mystery.

Banti's stories portray the ageless conflict between the expectations of society and the aspirations of the individual. In "Uncertain Vocations," the young Ofelia becomes a pianist after her marriage prospects fail, but self-doubt turns her success into miserable mediocrity. In the futuristic "The Women Are Dying," men acquire a new evolutionary ability; women, lacking that ability, are consigned to the status of an inferior race. "Joveta of Betania," set in the time of the Crusades, follows the daughter of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem as she escapes to a life of seclusion as an abbess—a life that becomes for her a source of proud freedom and deep bitterness. In "The Sailing Ships," a young boy creates an imaginary world from an uncertain childhood memory. "The Signorina" tells of a young woman who eventually finds herself, as a writer.