The Elm and the Ivy

Barrili, Anton Giulio, 1836-1908Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.9

Word count: 367K words
Chapters: 37

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.L'olmo e l'edera by Anton Giulio BarriliAuthor: Barrili, Anton Giulio, 1836-1908,Language: Italian, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Jul 9, 2007

Editor's review

Barili was a nineteenth-century Italian writer whose works often drew on historical fiction and bourgeois life. L'olmo e l'edera (The Elm and the Ivy), titled after plant imagery, is usually read as a metaphorical treatment of human relationships, dependence, and support. The value of reading this book lies in observing how Italian popular narrative uses natural imagery to organize plot and moral judgment; it also serves as an entry point for understanding the author's style. The Gutenberg electronic edition is easy to search and to quote in excerpts, making it suitable for classroom selected reading or comparative reading. Note that the original language bears the marks of its era and the narrative pace is slow; readers expecting the tightness of modern fiction may feel distant from it. It is best understood within the context of nineteenth-century Italian literature and serial publication culture rather than taken in isolation as casual reading.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Italian literature majors, for supplementary reading of nineteenth-century authors
Comparative literature readers interested in plant metaphors and narrative imagery
Enthusiasts with Italian reading ability who enjoy slow-paced classical narrative
Teachers who need public-domain electronic texts for classroom selected reading or citation

Not a good fit for

Beginner readers who rely entirely on Chinese translations and do not want to engage with the original
Readers of genre fiction seeking suspense, twists, or strong dramatic conflict
People with fragmented time who can only read in short snatches

Reading tips

Read the opening chapters first, noting where "elm" and "ivy" appear and observing how the imagery participates in characterization.
Make a brief chart of character relationships chapter by chapter so as not to lose the thread amid the slow narration.
Read in comparison with family-themed works of contemporary Italian fiction and compare their narrative emphases.
If using it for class, select passages where the imagery is concentrated for close reading rather than reading the whole book through.

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

What do the elm and the ivy in the title mean?

In common interpretations, the two plants form a contrast between dependence and support: the elm stands tall, while the ivy climbs and clings, and they are often used to metaphorize reliance, entanglement, and symbiosis in human relationships. Which kind of relationship is meant must be judged in light of the plot and the characters' situations. Readers can note the characters' states when the imagery appears rather than rushing to apply a fixed explanation.

Can I read this book without any Italian?

Reading the original directly would be difficult, because the language belongs to nineteenth-century written Italian and its syntax and vocabulary are distant from contemporary Italian. Without Italian, you can first look for a reliable translation or introductory materials, understand the plot and themes, and then decide whether to go deeper. It is more suitable to treat this book as research material than as an introductory reader.

Is the Gutenberg text reliable?

The Gutenberg edition is a public-domain electronic text transcribed and proofread by volunteers, sufficient for ordinary reading and searching. Different editions may differ in punctuation, chapter division, or a few transcription details; for scholarly citation, it is advisable to check a printed or authoritative critical edition and to note in citations which electronic version was used.

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About the author

Barrili, Anton Giulio, 1836-1908 Author

Anton Giulio Barrili (1836–1908) is an author with twenty-one works held in this collection. Public information about him is limited, and details of his life remain difficult to confirm. Judging from the titles available, his writing consists mainly of historical novels and narrative works set against major historical backgrounds, ancient and modern alike—for example Semiramide, on ancient Babylon; Castel Gavone, set in the fifteenth century; and works dealing with the Napoleonic era and the Italian Risorgimento. He was skilled at weaving real historical events into the fortunes of fictional characters, with vivid plotting that combines popular readability with a sense of historical weight. His works also show concern with social change, national consciousness, and personal growth, which is why some are classed as inspirational and coming-of-age literature. His novels are representative of the tradition of popular historical narrative in Italy.