Stories and Novellas

Antonio GhislanzoniProject Gutenberg · United StatesMar 2023

3.4

Word count: 583K words
Chapters: 59

Summary

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Racconti e novelle by Antonio Ghislanzoni

Author: Ghislanzoni, Antonio, 1824-1893,Language: Italian, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Sep 19, 2014

Editor's review

Antonio Ghislanzoni is better known as an opera librettist, especially for writing the Italian libretto for Aida, and that experience gives his narrative writing a marked sense of drama and musicality. This collection, Racconti e novelle, gathers his Italian short stories; they are not long, yet often driven by dialogue, with characters' situations and emotional turns written tightly, revealing a librettist's sensitivity to staging and the rhythm of lines. For readers of Italian literature, it is supplementary material for understanding nineteenth-century Italian popular narrative style; for those studying the interaction between opera and literature, it also shows how Ghislanzoni translated stage experience into prose narrative. Note that the entire book is in the original Italian and is a public-domain electronic text without modern annotations or introductions, so the barrier to reading lies mainly in the language rather than the length.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literature enthusiasts with some Italian reading ability
Readers studying nineteenth-century Italian literature and popular narrative
Those interested in opera librettists' cross-genre writing
Learners who want to use original short stories for close-reading practice in Italian

Not a good fit for

Readers with no Italian who can only read translations
Readers expecting long complete plots or a modern annotated edition
Music fans who only want to learn about the background of Aida

Reading tips

Read one or two pieces at a time; after finishing, first retell the plot in Italian, then look up new words.
Pay attention to how dialogue and scene transitions are written, annotating them against the sense of staging in opera librettos.
Start with the shortest pieces to build a feel for the language, then move on to more complex works.
If using it for research, consult Ghislanzoni's librettos as well and compare narrative differences.

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 or an English translation?

According to Project Gutenberg's catalog information, the book's language is Italian and it is a public-domain electronic text of the original, not an English translation. Readers need Italian reading ability or must rely on dictionaries and translation tools.

What kind of writer is Ghislanzoni primarily?

He is first known as an opera librettist, having written the Italian libretto for Verdi's Aida, and he also wrote literature. This short-story collection belongs to his narrative works, and readers may note the influence of his libretto experience on dialogue and scene arrangement.

Does the electronic edition include annotations or an introduction?

As a Project Gutenberg public-domain electronic text, it usually provides only the work's main text and basic catalog information, without modern scholarly annotations, introductions, or explanations of difficult words. Readers must look up historical background or dialect expressions themselves.

Is it suitable for Italian beginners?

Not very suitable for absolute beginners or elementary learners. Nineteenth-century Italian short stories differ from modern textbook language in sentence patterns, vocabulary, and narrative rhythm, and there are no annotations. Readers with intermediate or higher reading ability who are willing to use a dictionary will benefit more.

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About the author

Antonio Ghislanzoni Author · Italian · 1824–1893

Antonio Ghislanzoni (1824–1893) was an Italian journalist, poet, novelist, and opera librettist, born in Lecco, Lombardy, and died in 1893. He studied medicine in his early years and worked as a baritone singer before editing periodicals such as L'Italia musicale and the Gazzetta musicale di Milano. He is best known for writing the libretto of Verdi's Aida and the revised libretto of La forza del destino, and produced some eighty-five librettos in all. He also wrote novels, including La contessa di Karolystria. Eleven of his works are held in this collection, among them Libro proibito, Libro segreto, Libro bizzarro, Libro allegro, Libro serio, and AbrakadabraL: Storia dell'avvenire, which display a varied style blending humor, satire, and imagination. His works are often classified under inspirational and personal-growth titles in Chinese book listings. Public information on his fiction and essays remains limited.