Customer Reviews

The Siren; and Selected Writings

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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I think that everybody has to read this book, especially the siren, this story collect all the dreams of a man, and let us to think that when we find the right woman, the right love, we can't forget it, we can't substitute it, we can't hide it to ourselves.The author with a very simple story express the meaning of the love, the pure love...read it, I can just tell you this...and you'll dream...you'll smile.

I enjoyed the stories in this collection quite a bit, but what really surprised and delighted me were the essays on Stendhal and other writers. I'm not sure why they surprised me so much, but it may be because I was in graduate school in literature and the message I got there was that any school of literary criticism not prefaced by "post-" and not involving heavy reading of the most charmless sort was at best cream-puffery associated with old-fashioned belle-lettrists and suspect dilettantes.

So with what delight did I read ol' Giuseppe's light and witty and airy essays! I recall going so far as to put one of them in the bibliography of a paper I wrote. It felt like an incredibly subversive act; just by putting the name di Lampedusa in my bibliography I felt as if I were giving the finger to those professors of mine--all of them, probably--who had never read Lampedusa--or Stendhal, for that matter.

On the whole, I think it's in essays like di Lampedusa's--and not in criticism from college and university professors--that you're most likely to enjoy learning about books and writing. His joy in what he's talking about is palpable. It makes his work airy and delicious. Just like a good cream puff, in other words.

A collection of Di Lampedusa's writings aside from his great novel. The memoirs of the author's youth in aristocratic Sicily are delightful to read; clearly the atmosphere of the Leopard was taken from Di Lampedusa's own life. The stories are also quite good. The literary criticism is somewhat out of place, in my opinion, alongside a collection of narrative. If you liked the Leopard, this is definitely worth reading.

This book and writer were completely unknown to me just a few weeks ago. I just sorta "stumbled" on a reference to the story of the siren, was intrigued, and bought the book. The writer is an unabashed anglophile and has some interesting and rare perspectives on subjects as varied as Mediterranean Mermaids, Charles Dickens, Italian opera and Macbeth. The story of the mermaid is wonderful.. she is definitely NOT the "little mermaid"!! If you ever ever pondered how or why a man (or a woman) could fall in love with a mermaid (i know, i know, you must have lots of idle time in order to wonder about such things!) However, if you have pondered such an important question, this short story will give you at least one satisfying answer. As for the other writings in the book ... consider them a bonus, at least that is what I did. Highly recommended.