A Place to Live: and other selected essays of [Paperback]

Natalia Ginzburg (Author), Lynne Sharon Schwartz (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 3, 2003

Arguably one of Italy’s greatest contemporary writers, Natalia Ginzburg has been best known in America as a writer’s writer, quiet beloved of her fellow wordsmiths. This collection of personal essays chosen by the eminent American writer Lynne Sharon Schwartz from four of Ginzburg’s books written over the course of Ginzburg’s lifetime was a many-years long project for Schwartz. These essays are deeply felt, but also disarmingly accessible. Full of self-doubt and searing insight, Ginzburg is merciless in her attempts to describe herself and her world—and yet paradoxically, her self-deprecating remarks reveal her deeper confidence in her own eye and writing ability, as well as the weight and nuance of her exploration of the conflict between humane values and bureaucratic rigidity.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Italian novelist, dramatist, and essayist Natalia Ginzburg (1916-90) is revered worldwide for the lucidity of her style, the keenness of her perceptions, and the compassion implicit in her humanitarianism. Few of her pristine and powerful personal essays have been available in English, an oversight esteemed writer Lynne Sharon Schwartz rectifies in her graceful, seemingly transparent translations. Schwartz prefaces the collection with a brisk but moving look at Ginzburg's life--her antifascist family; her dissident husband's death in 1944 after being imprisoned by the fascists, which left Ginzburg with three young children; and her devotion to her craft--thus setting the context for Ginzburg's bracing essays about writing, family, home, war, exile, loss, and, in such startlingly incisive musings as "Fantasy Life," the nature of the mind and its evolution over time. Ginzburg draws her readers into her deceptively charming essays with cascades of alluring, everyday detail, then stealthily broaches moral questions of great weight and complexity. Wryly witty, acutely observant, and unfailingly valiant, Ginzburg is a revelation, a spur, and a joy. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Italian --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Seven Stories Press (June 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583225706
• ISBN-13: 978-1583225707
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 0.7 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #915,592 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Natalia Ginzburg at her best, August 4, 2011

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anish m "anish" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: A Place to Live: and other selected essays of (Paperback)

It was wonderful to read these nice translations of Natalia Ginzburg's essays that she had written for Italian journals/newspapers over the years. 'The Little Virtues(essays)' and 'The Wrong Door(plays)' are two other books written by her that are especially engrossing and entertaining. Can't get enough of her wit, wisdom and compassion :)
Very highly recommended!

0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Still wondering..., August 3, 2009

By 

Joseph T. Thoma - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Place to Live: and other selected essays of (Paperback)

This author was recommended by [...] Italian Language Guide and, having read and liked several other recommendations of this Guide, I was eager to submerge myself still deeper in Italian Culture. Perhaps I selected poorly. "A Place to Live" was claimed to be one of her best works but I just couldn't get the relationship that I was looking for...perhaps the one she was looking for also. I know I expect a lot from my reading and am often disappointed. I may still read another of her works... hopefully this one won't leave me still wondering.