Cara Speranza

Marchesa Colombi (Maria Antonietta Torriani)Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.5

Word count: 153K words
Chapters: 16

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Cara Speranza by marchesa ColombiAuthor: Colombi, marchesa, 1840-1920,Language: Italian, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Nov 30, 2010

Editor's review

Cara Speranza is a work by the Italian woman writer Marchesa Colombi (1840–1920), released by Project Gutenberg in the original Italian. Colombi was active in the Italian literary world of the late 19th century, often writing with a delicate touch about family, the situation of women and everyday ethics, and this book continues her concern with emotional and moral questions. As a public-domain e-book, its value lies first in offering researchers of Italian literature an easily accessible original text for examining popular fiction and women's writing in post-unification Italy; second, the epistolary or monologue-like narrative voice makes it good material for upper-intermediate and advanced learners of Italian to develop their sense of the language. One caveat: this is a text from a hundred years ago, with a slow narrative pace and a social background remote from today's readers, and it lacks an introduction and notes, so beginners may stumble at cultural references and should read it alongside background material on literary history.

Who it's for

A good fit for

University teachers and students studying 19th-century Italian literature and women's writing
Readers with upper-intermediate to advanced Italian who want to improve their feel for the language through the original text
History readers interested in themes of family ethics in post-unification Italian society

Not a good fit for

Readers with no Italian at all who need a Chinese translation
Readers of modern fiction who prefer fast-paced plots and strong dramatic conflict
Beginners who need detailed notes and an introduction to enter the text

Reading tips

First learn about society and women's education in post-unification 19th-century Italy before entering the text, which reduces obstacles to understanding.
Compare the characters' emotional conflicts with the author's other works to trace the threads of the ethical themes Colombi cares about.
Learners of Italian can select passages of dialogue or psychological description for close reading and imitation, without insisting on finishing the book in one go.
Note unfamiliar cultural references and old-fashioned expressions as you read and look them up in batches, avoiding frequent interruptions to the reading rhythm.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is there a Chinese translation of this book? Can I read it without knowing Italian?

Project Gutenberg releases the electronic text in the original Italian, and the materials mention no Chinese translation. Readers without Italian will find it difficult; they may first consult introductions to Colombi in histories of Italian literature, or look for relevant research papers to learn about the work's content.

Who was the author, Colombi?

Marchesa Colombi (1840–1920) was an Italian woman writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries whose works mostly concern family life, the situation of women and moral feeling. The materials provide no further biographical details; readers may consult Italian literary reference works for the course of her writing.

Is this book suitable for learning Italian?

It suits upper-intermediate and advanced learners. The text is 19th-century written Italian with long sentences, and some vocabulary and expressions are no longer common; as close-reading material it can sharpen sensitivity to old-fashioned literary language, but it is not recommended for absolute beginners.

Comments

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About the author

Marchesa Colombi (Maria Antonietta Torriani) Author · Italian · 1840–1920

Marchesa Colombi, the pen name of Maria Antonietta Torriani, was an Italian woman writer and journalist. She was born in Novara on January 1, 1840, and died in 1920. In 1875 she married Eugenio Torelli Viollier, a founder of the newspaper Corriere della Sera. Her writing focuses on the condition of women and the hardships of women workers, with a delicate and restrained touch. Four of her works are held in this collection, including Tempesta e bonaccia: Romanzo senza eroi, Senz'Amore, La cartella N. 4 and Cara Speranza; her other representative works include In risaia and Un matrimonio in provincia. After her death she was forgotten for a time and was rediscovered from the 1970s onward. Public information is limited, and many details of her life remain uncertain; researchers chiefly use her works to examine the lives and writing of Italian women in the nineteenth century.