Cristina

Serao, Matilde, 1856-1927Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 66K words
Chapters: 7

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.Cristina by Matilde SeraoAuthor: Serao, Matilde, 1856-1927,Language: Italian, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Mar 1, 2013

Editor's review

Cristina is a novel by the Italian writer Matilde Serao, originally in Italian and made available as a free eBook by Project Gutenberg. Serao was an important Italian realist writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and her work often focuses on Neapolitan society and the condition of women. This book, named after its female protagonist, continues her delicate observation of emotion, marriage and class reality, with a narrative marked by naturalism. For readers learning Italian, studying Italian literature, or interested in 19th-century European women's writing, it offers a freely available original text. As a public-domain eBook, it is mainly plain text, without notes or introduction, so readers need to bring their own linguistic and background preparation.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Intermediate and advanced learners of Italian who want to expand their reading through an original novel
Scholars and students of Italian realist literature and women's writing
Readers interested in Neapolitan society at the end of the 19th century
People used to reading public-domain foreign-language eBooks and able to supply their own background material

Not a good fit for

Readers with no Italian who only want a Chinese translation
Literary beginners who need detailed notes and an introduction
Readers who prefer fast-paced plots and have limited patience for psychological description

Reading tips

Learn about Serao's life and the context of Neapolitan literature before entering the text; this makes her realist method easier to grasp.
Italian learners can first read a chapter through for the plot, then go back for close reading of dialogue and psychological description.
Record the main characters' emotional turning points and social circumstances to trace the novel's observation of women's fates.
Read it alongside other 19th-century European novels about women to compare how different literary traditions handle similar themes.

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?

Available information shows only that it is a public-domain eBook in Italian; no Chinese translation is listed. Chinese readers who want to read it may need to find a translation themselves or use translation tools to help with the original.

What is Serao's standing in Italian literature?

Serao was a prolific Italian writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who wrote about Neapolitan society and women's experience in a realist style, and she holds a place in Italian literary history. Specific assessments and award information require reference to specialist literary histories.

Does the eBook include notes or an introduction?

Public-domain eBooks from Project Gutenberg usually consist mainly of the original text and generally do not include scholarly notes or introductions. Readers who need background explanation should consult literary histories and studies of the author separately.

Comments

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About the author

Serao, Matilde, 1856-1927 Author

Matilde Serao (1856–1927) was an Italian writer, and 15 of her works are held in this collection. Her writings span novels, short stories, and sketches, and they mostly center on the social life of Naples and the everyday experiences of ordinary people. Representative works include Le Amanti, Gli amanti: pastelli, Fior di passione, Dal vero, The Conquest of Rome, The Land of Cockayne: A Novel, Suor Giovanna della Croce: romanzo, and Vita e avventure di Riccardo Joanna: romanzo. These works show her gift for realistic portrayals of urban life and emotional relationships, with delicate narration, vivid characterization, and a blend of cool observation and warm sympathy. Public information is limited, and further details of her life and critical reception are not available here, yet the works themselves indicate her place in modern Italian fiction.