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    The Novel of Ferrara
    The Novel of Ferrara
    The Novel of Ferrara
    Audiobook32 hours

    The Novel of Ferrara

    Written by Giorgio Bassani and André Aciman

    Narrated by P.J. Ochlan

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The Novel of Ferrara brings together Giorgio Bassani's six classics, fully revised by the author at the end of his life.

    Set in the northern Italian town of Ferrara before, during, and after the Second World War, these interlocking stories present a fully rounded world of unforgettable characters: the respected doctor whose homosexuality is tolerated until he is humiliatingly exposed by an exploitative youth; a survivor of the Nazi death camps whose neighbors' celebration of his return gradually turns to ostracism; a young man discovering the ugly, treacherous price that people will pay for a sense of belonging; the Jewish aristocrat whose social position has been erased; the indomitable schoolteacher, Celia Trotti, whose Communist idealism disturbs and challenges a postwar generation.

    The Novel of Ferrara memorializes not only the Ferrarese people, but the city itself, which assumes a character and a voice deeply inflected by the Jewish community to which the narrator belongs.

    Contains mature themes.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    TranslatorJamie McKendrick
    Release dateSep 30, 2019
    ISBN9781541401266
    The Novel of Ferrara

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    • 3/5
      First, some groveling and caveats. How does a person with no literary credentials or accomplishments take it upon themselves to review an author with stacks of them? I can’t blame it on lack of self-awareness. I know my status or more appropriately, lack thereof. Perhaps I should just preface with the old rubric “I don’t know [fill in the blank] but I know what I like” (and don’t). I will assume that absolves me of any responsibility to exhibit any suitable humility. But, the book...“The Novel of Ferrara” is actually five plus novels by the author. All placed in the author’s home town of Ferrara, Italy. Most take place during the 30’s with the rise if Italian fascism as a backdrop. All are written in excellent prose and reveal the inner lives of the characters. But, not surprisingly, I had some concerns.Obviously I read these in translation. Although it would invalidate about 90% of my adult reading, I had a friend who rigidly stuck with the opinion that reading a work of fiction in translation had no merit. In his view, the work, as translated, was not actually the work. Although I am loath to admit that, there may be some truth in what he preached. If one does not read a work in the original, how is one to know the quality and potential implications of the translation? The obvious solution is to blame the translator for everything one doesn’t like about a work. That bring me back to Bassani.Bassani’s style frequently displays lengthy sentences with numerous complications such as dependent clauses. Translating such a work would obviously be a challenge for the best translator. In this case, I’m not sure the attempts were always successful. I frequently would need to reread a sentence several time to decipher the meaning. Often, it seemed, additional punctuation would have been helpful. Some sentences seemed to arrive from nowhere and simply have been dropped in the paragraph. I have no idea where to lay the blame. Given the author’s clear literary talent, I must conclude that it was either the translator or (god forbid) my lack of skill. Beyond those issues I found it difficult to relate to many of the central characters. Ethnic and religious background played a role in this but not a major one. More of an obstacle for me was the developmental stage of many of the characters. I have little patience for (or more importantly ability to navigate) the inner working of an adolescent mind. As important in my case, these adolescents were clearly privileged youth often, for example, using their leisure for tennis. It isn’t that these activities and lifestyle are less significant, its that I have little experience with that lifestyle and felt little connection to the characters. In summary, the main problem lay with my book choice. Excellent writing but characters and setting for which I struggled to find ample interest or patience.