Goliarda Sapienza's The Art of Joy was written over a nine year
span, from 1967 to 1976. At the time of her death in 1996, Sapienza
had published nothing in a decade, having been unable to find a
publisher for what was to become her most celebrated work, due to
its perceived immorality. One publisher's rejection letter
exclaimed: 'It's a pile of iniquity.' The manuscript lay for
decades in a chest finally being proclaimed a "forgotten
masterpiece" when it was eventually published in 2005. This epic
Sicilian novel, which begins in the year 1900 and follows its main
character, Modesta, through nearly the entire span of the 20th
century, is at once a coming-of-age novel, a tale of sexual
adventure and discovery, a fictional autobiography, and a sketch of
Italy's moral, political and social past. Born in a small Sicilian
village and orphaned at age nine, Modesta spends her childhood in a
convent raised by nuns.Through sheer cunning, she manages to
escape, and eventually becomes a princess. Sensual, proud, and
determined, Modesta wants to discover the infinite richness of life
and sets about destroying all social barriers that impede her quest
for the fulfilment of her desires. She seduces both men and women,
and even murder becomes acceptable as a means of removing an
obstacle to happiness and self-discovery. Goliarda Sapienza
(1924-1996) was born in Catania, Sicily in 1924, in an anarchist
socialist family. At sixteen, she entered the Academy of Dramatic
Arts in Rome and worked under the direction of Luchino Visconti,
Alessandro Blasetti and Francesco Maselli. She is the author of
several novels published during her lifetime: Lettera Aperta
(1967), Il Filo Di Mezzogiorno (1969), Universita di Rebibbia
(1983), Le Certezze Del Dubbio (1987). L'Arte Della Gioia is
considered her masterpiece. Anne Milano Appel, Ph.D., a former
library director and language teacher, has been translating
professionally for nearly twenty years, and is a member of ALTA,
ATA, NCTA and PEN. Her translation of Giovanni Arpino's Scent of a
Woman (Penguin, 2011) was named the winner of The John Florio Prize
for Italian Translation (2013).
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