Carlo Emilio Gadda : contemporary perspectives /

Under the expert guidance of Dombroski (since the 1970s a leading Gadda scholar) and Bertone (author of a book on Gadda, Il romanzo come sistema, 1993), this welcome addition to Gadda studies introduces readers to the writer's life and major works. It begins with a useful chronology and a descriptive introduction that outlines the content of each of the 13 essays. The subjects of the essays, written by distinguished scholars working in the US, Italy, the UK, Canada, and Switzerland, are as diverse as the contributors' locales. Each essay looks at one specific aspect of Gadda's work or at a particular problem of interpretation. Taken together, they broach a multitude of questions--ranging from Gadda's relation to other narrators to philosophical, linguistic, stylistic, psychological, and ideological influences and attitudes--and fulfill the editors' declared goal: to establish a contemporary critical view on Gadda, and to render the major part of his writing familiar to readers acquainted only with his well-known novels. Enriched with photographs and free of obvious errors, this volume is highly recommended, especially to upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and scholars. R. West; University of Chicago