Dewey Edition21
Reviews"More than 30 years after his death, it is high time that English-language readers rediscovered this valiant writer and his works."- The Wall Street Journal, "More than 30 years after his death, it is high time that English-language readers rediscovered this valiant writer and his works." - The Wall Street Journal
SynopsisThe impoverished, desolate mountain regions of the Abruzzo during Mussolini's reign provide the backdrop for the three greatest novels by Ignazio Silone, one of the twentieth century's most important writers. In Fontamara , Bread and Wine , and The Seed Beneath the Snow - presented together for the first time in English to mark the centenary of the author's birth - Silone narrates the struggles of the cafoni, the farmers and peasants of his native Abruzzo, against poverty, natural disasters, and totalitarianism. The first novel in the series, Fontamara , is a political fable that portrays the bitter trials of the villagers of Pescina as they battle with landowners who have appropriated their only source of water. First published from his exile in Zurich in 1933, and banned in his own country, the novel was translated into twenty languages and won Silone instant international literary fame. Silone's masterpiece, Bread and Wine , introduces the semi-autobiographical character Pietro Spina, an anti-Fascist revolutionary who returns to his homeland after fifteen years in exile. He seeks refuge among the Abruzzo peasants by posing as the priest Don Paolo Spada. Pietro's story continues in The Seed Beneath the Snow , Silone's personal favorite in the trilogy. Pietro Spina flees again and, with the police in close pursuit, is taken in by his grandmother Donna Maria Vincenza. Though comfortably settled in Italian bourgeois society, she jeopardizes her own life in order to protect him., The desolate, impoverished mountain region of the Abruzzo during Mussolini's reign provides the backdrop for the three greatest novels of Ignazio Silone, one of the century's most important writers. Together, these revolutionary works create an indelible image of ordinary people struggling against overwhelming events., Published in a single volume for the first time,in English, Silone's Abruzzo Trilogy brings,together the three greatest novels of one of,Italy's finest and most important writers. Written,during Mussolini's fascist dictatorship, the,novels were initially banned in Italy but were to,become international bestsellers.
LC Classification NumberPQ4841.I4A6 2000