The Book of the Virgins (Hesperus Classics) [Paperback]

Gabriele D'Annunzio (Author), Tim Parks (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: Hesperus Classics | Publication Date: June 1, 2003

The Book of the Virgins, published here in its first English translation, is one of Gabriele D’Annunzio’s very first collections. Remarkable for its descriptive powers, it is a compelling account of self-knowledge and coming-of-age. Recovering from a near-fatal illness, a young woman resolves to experience for herself all that life has to offer. Spurning her old saintly ways, she sets out to explore the beauty and energy in everything around her. But as she senses the first stirrings of passion, so too comes tragedy, and with it, the realization that to truly live, she must embrace life in all its brutality. Poet, dramatist, novelist, and one of the most popular and controversial Italian writers of the 20th century, Gabriele D’Annunzio represented the very height of decadence in Italy.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Hesperus Press, as suggested by their Latin motto, Et remotissima prope, is dedicated to bringing near what is far—far both in space and time. Works by illustrious authors, often unjustly neglected or simply little known in the English–speaking world, are made accessible through a completely fresh editorial approach and new translations. Through these short classic works, which feature forewords by leading contemporary authors, the modern reader will be introduced to the greatest writers of Europe and America. An elegantly designed series of genuine rediscoveries.

Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Hesperus Press (June 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1843910527
• ISBN-13: 978-1843910527
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 4.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,241,757 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars D'Annunzio at his best, December 26, 2011

By 

Dr. Richard M. Price (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Book of the Virgins (Hesperus Classics) (Paperback)

This singularly attractive little volume contains four stories by the young D'Annunzio, written in the early 1880s. Three are slight, but 'The Virgins' is a substantial and startling piece of writing, and an important example of late nineteenth-century 'verismo' or realism. It begins by describing in detail the experience of a sick woman slowly recovering from typhus: she responds with a voluptuous intensity to the returning sensations of sight, smell and sound - leading to amorous arousal, rape and death (some readers will find the story lurid and repellent). I know no text that evokes physical sensation so effectively. In other D'Annunzio stories that are equally vivid there tends to be a divorce between the thoughts of the characters and amazingly evocative descriptions that manifestly reflect not their sensibility but that of the author; here the two coincide, and the result is, in my view, D'Annunzio's finest story.