Neapolitan Mornings

Di Giacomo, Salvatore, 1860-1934Project Gutenberg · United StatesMar 2023

3.5

Word count: 139K words
Chapters: 14

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. Mattinate napoletane by Salvatore Di Giacomo. Author: Di Giacomo, Salvatore, 1860-1934. Language: Italian. Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese. Release Date: Aug 31, 2009

Editor's review

Mattinate napoletane is a collection of sketches of Neapolitan life written by the Italian author Salvatore Di Giacomo in the late nineteenth century. With delicate brushstrokes it records early-morning streets and alleys, ordinary city characters, and the atmosphere of the city, combining literary quality with the value of a local chronicle. The book is in Italian, and its style blends the lyricism and realism characteristic of its era. It will appeal to readers interested in Italian literature, the urban culture of Naples, and nineteenth-century European civic life. As a free Project Gutenberg eBook, it is easy to obtain and convenient to read on electronic devices at any time. Readers may wish to slow down and use notes or a dictionary to grasp dialect and period background, the better to appreciate the flavor of the text. For readers whose first language is not Italian, this is a work that requires some grounding in the language to enjoy fully, but it is also a distinctive window onto the literary portrayal of a southern Italian city.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with some ability to read Italian who are interested in Italian literature
Those who want to learn about nineteenth-century Neapolitan city life and street culture
Literature lovers who enjoy essays, urban sketches, and lyrical prose
Students and researchers working on Italian regional literature or urban writing

Not a good fit for

Complete beginners with no Italian who need a Chinese translation to assist them
Readers expecting a full plotted novel or strong storytelling
Those seeking practical information quickly rather than literary reading

Reading tips

Read through once to get a feel for the style, then use an Italian-Chinese dictionary for unfamiliar words and dialect
Read by theme or scene rather than insisting on moving linearly from start to finish
Consult materials on Neapolitan geography and history while reading to deepen understanding
Read passages aloud to appreciate the rhythm and lyrical tone of the original

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 level of language ability is needed to read this book?

The original is in Italian and carries late-nineteenth-century literary expression and local color, so an intermediate or higher reading ability in Italian is recommended. Beginners may use a bilingual dictionary or a parallel translation for support; otherwise they may struggle with unfamiliar words and the feel of the period.

Is this a novel or a collection of essays?

It is a collection of essays and sketches of city life, not a novel with a continuous plot. The content focuses on early-morning streets and alleys, people, and the atmosphere of the city, and is suited to readers who enjoy lyrical realist prose and wish to read piece by piece.

What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition?

This edition is a free eBook released by Project Gutenberg, easy to obtain and read on a computer, phone, or e-reader. It provides the original text and usually contains no modern notes or introduction, so readers need to supply background material themselves.

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About the author

Di Giacomo, Salvatore, 1860-1934 Author

Salvatore Di Giacomo (1860-1934) was an Italian writer whose life and education are poorly documented in publicly available sources; six of his works are held in this collection. Judging by their subjects, his writing draws mainly on everyday life in Naples and spans both fiction and drama. The story collections L'ignoto and Novelle Napolitane, together with the prose sketches Mattinate napoletane, take their material from the street characters and popular customs of Naples, in a plain style close to daily life, while the plays Assunta Spina, 'O voto and A «San Francisco» turn to the circumstances and emotional conflicts of ordinary people, often presenting the troubles of lower-class life through dialect and popular scenes. Such works offer some insight into Neapolitan society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with plain language and strong local colour.