"As far as the education of children is concerned," states
Natalia Ginzburg in this collection of her finest and best-known
short essays, "I think they should be taught not the little virtues
but the great ones. Not thrift but generosity and an indifference
to money; not caution but courage and a contempt for danger; not
shrewdness but frankness and a love of truth; not tact but a love
of one's neighbor and self-denial; not a desire for success but a
desire to be and to know." Whether she writes of the loss of a
friend, Cesare Pavese; or what is inexpugnable of World War II; or
the Abruzzi, where she and her first husband lived in forced
residence under Fascist rule; or the importance of silence in our
society; or her vocation as a writer; or even a pair of worn-out
shoes, Ginzburg brings to her reflections the wisdom of a survivor
and the spare, wry, and poetically resonant style her readers have
come to recognize.
"A glowing light of modern Italian literature . . . Ginzburg's
magic is the utter simplicity of her prose, suddenly illuminated by
one word that makes a lightning streak of a plain phrase. . . . As
direct and clean as if it were carved in stone, it yet speaks
thoughts of the heart." --"The New York Times Book Review"
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!