Ideal Crime

Capuana, Luigi, 1839-1915Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 198K words
Chapters: 20

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.Delitto ideale by Luigi CapuanaAuthor: Capuana, Luigi, 1839-1915,Language: Italian, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Aug 31, 2009

Editor's review

Delitto ideale is a short story by the Italian writer Luigi Capuana, available from Project Gutenberg in the original Italian. Capuana was a leading figure of Italian Verismo, and his narrative style is typically restrained and cool, adept at revealing the undercurrents of his characters' psychology within everyday settings. This story revolves around an "ideal crime"; though brief, it builds tension in which suspense and reflection coexist within a limited space, allowing readers to appreciate both the drama of the story itself and the human and ethical atmosphere of late nineteenth-century Italian society. The book serves well as an introductory text for approaching Italian Verismo, and is also suitable as supplementary reading in language-learning or literary-history courses. When reading, it is advisable to slow down, pay attention to the narrator's layered unfolding of the characters' motives, and savor the lingering resonance created by the open ending. Readers unfamiliar with Italian will need to consult a translation or read in a parallel-text format.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Intermediate and advanced language learners of Italian who wish to practice reading with short original texts
Readers interested in nineteenth-century Italian literature and the Verismo movement
Readers who prefer short suspense and psychological portraiture and want to finish a complete work quickly
Students in literary-history or comparative-literature courses who need supplementary primary-source examples

Not a good fit for

Complete beginners who do not know Italian and are unwilling to use a translation
Genre-fiction fans expecting long-form plots and complex multi-threaded narratives
Readers impatient with slow unfolding and narratives dominated by psychological description

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the plot, then revisit key passages, noting the narrator's hints about the characters' psychology.
Read alongside a reliable Italian translation to reduce the comprehension burden caused by the language barrier.
After reading, note the ethical conflicts in the story and the open ending, and try to connect them with the features of Verismo literature.
If used in class, organize a small discussion around the tension between "ideal" and "crime."

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 this book in Italian or English?

According to the Project Gutenberg record, the book is in Italian and is classified under PQ (Romance literatures). Readers unfamiliar with Italian are advised to use a translation or familiarize themselves with the plot summary before tackling the original.

What literary movement did Capuana belong to?

Luigi Capuana (1839–1915) was one of the leading representatives of Italian Verismo, and his work spans novels, short stories, and literary criticism. His writing often depicts ordinary people's psychology and social circumstances in a cool, restrained style, and this story continues that orientation.

Is the length suitable for reading in one sitting?

This is a short story of limited length, usually finishable in one or two readings. It is advisable to read it through continuously the first time to feel the narrative rhythm, then look closely at the psychological description and the handling of the ending on the second pass.

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About the author

Capuana, Luigi, 1839-1915 Author

Luigi Capuana (1839–1915) was an Italian writer. Thirteen of his works are held in the collection, including Fausto Bragia, e altre novelle; Eh! la vita....: Novelle; Cardello; Cronache Letterarie; Come l'onda... Novelle; Nuove Paesane; Rassegnazione: Romanzo; and Il nemico è in noi. These titles show that he wrote both short stories and novels and also produced writing of a critical nature, with the works labeled by genre as “Novelle” (short stories) and “Romanzo” (novel). Their subjects tend to center on everyday life, human manners, and inner feeling, and the style combines realism with a lyrical touch. Because the available material and public information are limited, details of his life, nationality, and exact literary standing cannot be confirmed; this note describes his writing only on the basis of the works at hand.