{"title":"Books by Italo Svevo","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780940322844","title":"As a Man Grows Older","description":"\u003cp\u003eNot so long ago Emilio Brentani was a promising young author. Now he is an insurance agent on the fast track to forty. He gains a new lease on life, though, when he falls for the young and gorgeous Angiolina-except that his angel just happens to be an unapologetic cheat. But what begins as a comedy of infatuated misunderstanding ends in tragedy, as Emilio's jealous persistence in his folly-against his friends' and devoted sister's advice, and even his own best knowledge-leads to the loss of the one person who, too late, he realizes he truly loves.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMarked by deep humanity and earthy humor, by psychological insight and an elegant simplicity of style, \u003ci\u003eAs a Man Grows Older\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eSenilità\u003c\/i\u003e, in Italian; the English title was the suggestion of Svevo's great friend and admirer, James Joyce) is a brilliant study of hopeless love and hapless indecision. It is a masterwork of Italian literature, here beautifully rendered into English in Beryl de Zoete's classic translation.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56295136723317,"sku":"9780940322844","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780940322844_8bbfd4ff-c76c-4a1b-b7f9-a687071c3c46.jpg?v=1786015657"},{"product_id":"9781787474178","title":"Confessions of Zeno (riverrun editions)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'I am sure a cigarette has a more poignant flavour when it is the last'\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA neurotic Italian businessman obsessed by his own hypochondria, Zeno Cosini recounts his early years to his psychoanalyst Dr S as a form of therapy. With a cigarette clutched permanently between his fingers, he explores the important themes of his life: his love of smoking, his relationship with his parents, his marriage. Structured as a series of conversations with his psychoanalyst, \u003ci\u003eZeno \u003c\/i\u003ewas an innovation in its time, and remains a curious and intriguing delight. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMichael Hoffman places \u003ci\u003eConfessions of Zeno \u003c\/i\u003ein its European context in his sparkling introduction.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56306581176693,"sku":"9781787474178","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781787474178_09d42841-09e8-48a1-b80b-e0e7a6c4b60c.jpg?v=1786026031"},{"product_id":"9781857152494","title":"Zeno's Conscience","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe modern Italian classic discovered and championed by James Joyce, ZENO'S CONSCIENCE is a marvel of psychological insight, published here in a fine new translation by William Weaver - the first in more than seventy years.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eItalo Svevo's masterpiece tells the story of a hapless, doubting, guilt-ridden man paralyzed by fits of ecstasy and despair and tickled by his own cleverness. His doctor advises him, as a form of therapy, to write his memoirs; in doing so, Zeno reconstructs and ultimately reshapes the events of his life into a palatable reality for himself - a reality, however, founded on compromise, delusion, and rationalization.\u003cbr\u003eWith cigarette in hand, Zeno sets out in search of health and happiness, hoping along the way to free himself from countless vices, not least of which is his accursed \"last cigarette!\" (Zeno's famously ineffectual refrain is inevitably followed by a lapse in resolve.) \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHis amorous wanderings win him the shrill affections of an aspiring coloratura, and his confidence in his financial savoir-faire involves him in a hopeless speculative enterprise. Meanwhile, his trusting wife reliably awaits his return at appointed mealtimes. Zeno's adventures rise to antic heights in this pioneering psychoanalytic novel, as his restlessly self-preserving commentary inevitably embroiders the truth. Absorbing and devilishly entertaining, ZENO'S CONSCIENCE is at once a comedy of errors, a sly testimonial to he joys of procrastination, and a surpassingly lucid vision of human nature by one of the most important Italian literary figures of the twentieth century.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56308542636405,"sku":"9781857152494","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781857152494_97542ff5-b0f3-418e-b654-ce51a2ccbbc1.jpg?v=1786029539"},{"product_id":"9780241372609","title":"Zeno's Conscience","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA marvel of psychological insight from one of the most important Italian literary figures of the twentieth century\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen vain, obsessive and guilt-ridden Zeno Cosini seeks help for his  neuroses, his psychoanalyst suggests he writes his memoirs as a form of  therapy. Zeno's account is an alternative reality, a series of  elliptical episodes dealing with the death of his father, his career,  his marriage and affairs, and, above all, his passion for smoking and  his spectacular failure to resist the promise of that last cigarette. A  hymn to self-delusion and procrastination, Svevo's devilishly funny  portrayal of a man's attempt to give up smoking and make sense of his  life has become a cult classic.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56311642128757,"sku":"9780241372609","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780241372609_365bd654-2671-496b-ab42-e695d6a6ea5a.jpg?v=1786012991"},{"product_id":"9781847497758","title":"A Perfect Hoax","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOnly edition in print\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTravelling salesman Enrico Gaia decides to play a trick on the conceited ageing littérateur Mario Samigli: he dupes him into thinking that a representative of a prestigious Viennese publishing house wants to commission a German translation of a long-forgotten novel Samigli had written and published at his own expense forty years ago. This leads the old man to reach new heights of self-delusion, spurred on by Gaia’s succession of ruses.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this tragicomic study of deception and disappointment, Italo Svevo – who himself was an undiscovered writer until his old age – parodies elements of his own life and offers an insightful psychological portrait of a person who has lost touch with reality.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56313061867893,"sku":"9781847497758","price":5.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781847497758_ec345aa7-1813-4f0a-bf7d-5b4de513007b.jpg?v=1786029379"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-italo-svevo.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}