The Lantern

Palazzeschi, Aldo, 1885-1974Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.7

Word count: 27K words
Chapters: 3

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.Lanterna by Aldo PalazzeschiAuthor: Palazzeschi, Aldo, 1885-1974,Language: Italian, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Sep 22, 2018

Editor's review

Lanterna is a work by the Italian poet and novelist Aldo Palazzeschi, released free of charge in the original Italian by Project Gutenberg. Palazzeschi was a distinctly experimental writer in twentieth-century Italian literature: closely associated with Futurism in his early years, he later developed a singular style marked by irony and the grotesque. The book is short and its language concise, making it a suitable introduction to modern Italian literature in the original. As you read, note the irony and symbolism in the narrative tone and the author's transformation of everyday scenes. Being a public-domain e-book, the text has no modern annotations, so readers must look up background material themselves. It rewards slow reading in a quiet setting, and can be set against Palazzeschi's other works to observe the evolution of his style. For learners of Italian it is a practical text for testing reading comprehension and building literary vocabulary; for general readers, a short excursion into the margins of twentieth-century Italian literature.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Learners with some Italian reading ability who want to engage with modern literature in the original
Readers interested in twentieth-century Italian literature and avant-garde writing
Literature lovers who enjoy short narrative and prefer irony and the grotesque
Educators who need free public-domain foreign-language texts for classroom or self-study materials

Not a good fit for

Readers with no Italian at all who want a Chinese translation
Beginning readers of foreign literature who need detailed notes and background introductions
Readers who prefer tightly plotted, story-driven novels

Reading tips

First read straight through to grasp the overall tone, then go paragraph by paragraph with a dictionary, noting recurring images.
Before reading, briefly acquaint yourself with Palazzeschi's relationship to Italian Futurism; it helps in understanding his linguistic experimentation.
Read alongside a Chinese translation or literary-history material to lower the threshold of understanding the original.
After finishing, write a short review focusing on how the narrator's tone shapes your understanding of the story.

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 the original Italian? What level of language is needed?

According to Project Gutenberg, the book is in Italian and is a public-domain original-language e-book. An intermediate or higher reading level in Italian is recommended, sufficient to handle literary expression with the help of a dictionary; beginners may prefer to use a translation or introductory material alongside.

Who was Palazzeschi? What background should I know before reading?

Aldo Palazzeschi (1885–1974) was an Italian writer who took part in the Futurist movement in his early years and later turned to writing marked by irony and the grotesque. A brief acquaintance with early twentieth-century Italian literary currents before reading is useful, but do not rely too heavily on background knowledge; feeling the tone of the text comes first.

Does the e-book edition have notes or an introduction? What should I do with difficult passages?

Project Gutenberg provides a public-domain text that generally contains no modern annotations or introduction. When you hit difficulties, consult an Italian dictionary, literary-history material, or a Chinese translation; you can also skip the details at first, grasp the overall tone and imagery, and then return for close reading.

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About the author

Palazzeschi, Aldo, 1885-1974 Author

Aldo Palazzeschi (1885–1974) was an Italian writer whose four works are held in this collection. Public information is limited, but the works at hand show that his writing spans fiction and poetry and is marked by a strong experimental bent. Il codice di Perelà unfolds an allegorical narrative around the fictional figure Perelà, with a strikingly original conception; L'Incendiario col rapporto sulla vittoria futurista di Trieste reveals his ties to the Futurist movement, with language and form inclined to rebel against tradition. Lanterna and Il Re bello likewise continue this vein of abundant imagination and gently ironic tone. Palazzeschi excelled at lodging observations of reality within absurd situations, and his work combines an avant-garde spirit with readability, making him a notable voice in twentieth-century Italian literature whose experimental writing has offered some inspiration to later authors.