Literature

Conversations with Elio Vittorini and his critics

Categories About me, Arts, Expat, Expat experiences, Italian Culture, Italy, Language concerns, Language Concerns, Life in Sicily, Literary Islands, Literature, Mythology from Sicily, Sicilian Culture and Traditions, Sicilian History, Sicilian Writers, Sicily, Sicily and Sicilianess2 Comments on Conversations with Elio Vittorini and his critics

Elio Vittorini’s Conversations in Sicily has been on my reading list for a while and I was delighted to find the original English translation in the Amazon Kindle store compete with an introduction from Ernest Hemingway so I immediately snapped it up. However, for some unknown reason, it was never delivered and after several emails,…

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A journey to the Volcano with Venero Armanno

Categories Arts, Beautiful Italy, Interviews, Italy, Life in Sicily, Literary Islands, Literature, Sicilian Culture and Traditions, Sicily and Sicilianess

    Venero Armanno's trio of Sicilian themed novels is a significant accomplishment, written masterfully by the son of Sicilian migrants with a powerful dedication to Sicily. The volcano is a novel of emotion, passion and fire set in the shadowlands around Etna and tells us of the epic journey of Emilio Aquila. The book…

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A Sicilian Summer with Brian Johnston

Categories About me, Arts, Beautiful Italy, Culture Shock, Interviews, Italy, Life in Sicily, Literary Islands, Literature, Living in Sicily, Only in Sicily, Sicilian Cuisine, Sicilian Culture and Traditions, Sicilian food, Sicilian History, Sicily, Travel, Travel Italy, Travel Sicily

I’ve always been a lover of the travel writing genre, ever since my mother gave me a paperback of Bill Bryson’s ‘Neither here nor there’ which took me backpacking through Europe before I left high school. Since then I have made my way through many travel writing classics from Paul Theroux to Bruce Chatwin. Many…

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Literary Islands: Giuseppe di Lampedusa

Categories About me, Arts, Expat, Expat experiences, Italy, Language concerns, Language Concerns, Life in Sicily, Literary Islands, Literature, Sicilian Culture and Traditions, Sicilian History, Sicilian Writers, Sicily, Sicily and Sicilianess

Giuseppe di Lampedusa’s The Leopard (Il gattopardo) is my favourite Sicilian novel of all time. The sumptuous world of the Prince of Salina is a precious link to Sicily’s baroque aristocracy. It also inspired one of the best international cinematic productions with the classic 1963 film adaptation directed by Luchino Visconti starring Burt Lancaster as…

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Literary Islands: Federico De Roberto

Categories About me, Beautiful Italy, Culture Shock, Italian Culture, Italy, Life in Sicily, Literary Islands, Literature, Sicilian Culture and Traditions, Sicilian History, Sicily, Sicily and Sicilianess

Frederico De Roberto’s I Vicere’ or The Viceroy’s was another accidental discovery for me, thanks to the Italian’s flare for rich television series period drama. I fell in love with De Roberto’s characters thanks to the screen adaptation I watched a few years ago on the RAI television network in Italy (2007). I was so…

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Literary Islands: Vitaliano Brancati

Categories About me, Arts, Culture Shock, Italian Culture, Italy, Life in Sicily, Literary Islands, Literature, Sicilian Culture and Traditions, Sicilian History, Sicilian Writers, Sicily, Sicily and Sicilianess, Travel Sicily

I stumbled upon Vitaliano Brancati quite by accident in a bookstore at Messina. I was attracted by the title of one his books, I discovered after he was quite a prolific novelist and later his most famous novel Il Bel Antonio was developed into a movie starring Marcello Mastroianni, which became a classic of Italian…

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