Old Cadences and New

De Marchi, Emilio, 1851-1901Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 122K words
Chapters: 13

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.Vecchie cadenze e nuove by Emilio De MarchiAuthor: De Marchi, Emilio, 1851-1901,Language: Italian, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Mar 3, 2006

Editor's review

This is an Italian-language work by the Italian author Emilio De Marchi, classified under Romance literatures and released by Project Gutenberg as a free ebook. The title "Old Cadences and New" suggests a playful contrast between tradition and modernity, and the book is suited to readers with some reading proficiency in Italian who can appreciate its linguistic rhythm and period flavor. As a public-domain electronic text, it is easy to search and compare, and it works well as supplementary reading for enthusiasts of Italian literature. Note that this edition contains no translator's notes or detailed introduction, so readers must fill in background information themselves; those unfamiliar with the late nineteenth-century Italian literary context may feel at a loss on first reading. It is best treated as a sample of language and style rather than a plot-driven read, and is more effective when used alongside annotated editions or relevant literary histories.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Language learners with intermediate or higher reading proficiency in Italian
Readers interested in late nineteenth-century Italian literature
Readers who need public-domain Italian texts for translation or language research
Literature lovers who enjoy essayistic prose with a strong sense of rhythm

Not a good fit for

General readers with no Italian who can read only Chinese
Readers of genre fiction who prefer strong plots and fast-paced narratives
Beginners who need detailed notes and introductions to enter the text

Reading tips

Read the table of contents and opening passages first to get a feel for the language's rhythm, then decide whether to read closely piece by piece or selectively.
Keep an Italian dictionary at hand and record recurring archaic expressions in one place, reviewing them regularly.
Read alongside background material on late nineteenth-century Italian literature to help understand the work's period context.
Read some passages aloud to appreciate the linguistic musicality suggested by the word "cadence" in the title.

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

Can I read this book without knowing Italian?

The book is in the original Italian with no Chinese translation or notes, so readers without Italian will find it hard to read directly. It is best to have intermediate or higher Italian proficiency first, or to read it alongside an edition with translation and notes. If you only want a summary of the content, consult relevant literary histories.

Does this book need to be read in order from beginning to end?

Not necessarily. The work has an essayistic quality and a sense of contrasting cadences, so readers can start with the table of contents and opening, then choose chapters of interest. For language learning, close reading of selected short passages is more effective than reading straight through; for studying the overall style, read through in the original order and take notes.

Does the Gutenberg edition have notes?

Project Gutenberg provides public-domain electronic texts that usually contain no modern-publisher notes, introductions, or translator's notes. Readers who need background explanation should consult literary histories themselves or use an annotated edition for comparison. The advantages of this edition are that it is free, searchable, and easy to copy and cite.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

De Marchi, Emilio, 1851-1901 Author

Emilio De Marchi (1851-1901) was a nineteenth-century Italian writer. Public information about his life and nationality is limited, and only four of his works are held in this collection. Judging from titles such as Col fuoco non si scherza, Vecchie cadenze e nuove, Nuove storie d'ogni colore and Vecchie Storie, he wrote both fiction and narrative prose, drawing on everyday life, old customs and observations of human nature; the contrast between "vecchie" and "nuove" in his titles also suggests a sustained interest in traditional and modern experience. His style tends toward realism, with attention to plot and character, and his language is plain and full of the flavor of ordinary life. Although relevant material is scarce, these works still offer a glimpse of one aspect of nineteenth-century Italian narrative literature.