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Available
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Description
Deu anys després de la publicació de Vocabulari familar (1963), Natalia Ginzburg reprèn el tema de les relacions familiars amb la novel·la gairebé del tot epistolar que ara presentem en català, Estimat Michele. Una família, en aquest cas, allunyada per la distància, per les ruptures, per les dificultats de comunicació, per la solitud de cadascun dels personatges que, tanmateix, malden per trobar la seva pròpia felicitat. La malenconia, l'enyor, o la tendència a habituar-se a tot només quan ja no queda res més, marquen el rerefons d'una narració construïda al voltant de Michele, que ha marxat del país fugint d'un conflicte causat per la seva militància política. Potser també fugint de la mare, Adriana, que vanament intenta acostar-s'hi.Situada en l'ambient d'una burgesia intel·lectualitzada a la Roma d'inicis dels setanta, Estimat Michele supera la localització temporal i espacial en presentar, amb el rigorós estil d'una Natalia Ginzburg madura i sàvia, uns conflictes del tot universals.
Description
"The hauntingly beautiful epistolary novel from 'a glowing light of modern Italian literature' (New York Times Book Review). At the heart of Happiness As Such is an absence, an abyss that draws everyone nearer to its edge, created by the departure of a family's wayward only son, Michele, who has fled from Italy to England to escape the dangers and threats of his radical political ties. This novel is part epistolary: his mother writes letters to him, nagging him; his sister Angelica writes to him too; so does Mara, his former lover, who gave birth to a child who could be his own. Left to clean up Michele's mess, his family and friends complain and commiserate, making mistakes and missteps, attempting to cope in the only ways that they know how. With a few brushstrokes, Natalia Ginzburg can flesh out an entire existence and all its pitfalls and disappointments with unmatched clarity. One of Natalia Ginzburg's finest achievements, Happiness As Such is an experimental, wise, raw, comic novel, written in powerful prose that cuts to the bone with surgical precision"--… (more)
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Publication
Edicions 62 (2008), 208 pages
User reviews
LibraryThing member boredgames
devastating. wise.
LibraryThing member greeniezona
When I saw this book in the bookstore, I had to buy it immediately, based on how much I loved The Dry Heart I was absolutely not disappointed.
A novel composed of letters, most of which are written to or about the missing Michele, who has fled Italy to England. The characters are amazing and messy,
There is humor, but it is the kind of dark humor that you sometimes wonder if you should quite be laughing at. It's all a lot of chaos, but then there are also machine guns and riots and fascists, so it's complicated.
A novel composed of letters, most of which are written to or about the missing Michele, who has fled Italy to England. The characters are amazing and messy,
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it is clear that they do not understand each other, or Michele. The picture we develop of Michele as we read is of course always shifting, as everyone seems to have an unreliable grasp on reality to some extent (especially Mara, the mother of a young child who may(?) be Michele's, and whose life is a series of dodging one disaster after another, always blaming someone else for the mess she is currently in.)There is humor, but it is the kind of dark humor that you sometimes wonder if you should quite be laughing at. It's all a lot of chaos, but then there are also machine guns and riots and fascists, so it's complicated.
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LibraryThing member TheAmpersand
A brief epistolary novel and a very good one. I actually had to read this one twice. There are a lot of characters, and the family situation described here is complicated, but what really made "Happiness as Such" rough going the first time around is that when a chapter began with a letter, it was
Many of the letters in "Happiness as Such" can be fond, personal, or heartfelt. Some passages of this book reveal, while others purposely seem to omit the most important point being made. This is, in other words, a well-written book full of good writers. But one of the reasons I really enjoyed this novel is that the entire thing is, in a sense, a letter from a past that seems very far away now. You might as well ask if anyone could set a novel like this in the present day: who, after all, still writes letters? But Ginzburg is also describing an Italy in which young men routinely got involved with violent leftist movements and in which you had to fight to get a phone line installed in your house. I was surprised, and rather saddened, to realize that just about all of the correspondents would have passed on by now. "Happiness as Such" has many of the familiar novelistic elements: love and disappointment and anxiety and attachment -- specifically the kind that people find difficult to explain. We meet relatives and in-laws and friends and employees and employees and lovers, and they all interact as can be expected, more or less. But when I finished this one -- for the second time -- I couldn't help feeling that I'd read a history -- to put it rather grandly -- of the passage of a group of people on the earth. Most of these people would be gone now, or well past retirement age, but we've still got their letters. That's an argument for writing a novel and, I suppose, for writing letters, too.
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difficult to tell who was writing, or rather, narrating. This was confusing, but it also made the experience of reading this one more involving: the author succeeds in putting the reader in the place of the character being addressed. There's a lot of heavy emotional stuff here: deaths in the family, divorces, loneliness, and at least two wayward youths. Ginzburg's decision to structure the novel as she did enhances its emotional impact. Many of the letters in "Happiness as Such" can be fond, personal, or heartfelt. Some passages of this book reveal, while others purposely seem to omit the most important point being made. This is, in other words, a well-written book full of good writers. But one of the reasons I really enjoyed this novel is that the entire thing is, in a sense, a letter from a past that seems very far away now. You might as well ask if anyone could set a novel like this in the present day: who, after all, still writes letters? But Ginzburg is also describing an Italy in which young men routinely got involved with violent leftist movements and in which you had to fight to get a phone line installed in your house. I was surprised, and rather saddened, to realize that just about all of the correspondents would have passed on by now. "Happiness as Such" has many of the familiar novelistic elements: love and disappointment and anxiety and attachment -- specifically the kind that people find difficult to explain. We meet relatives and in-laws and friends and employees and employees and lovers, and they all interact as can be expected, more or less. But when I finished this one -- for the second time -- I couldn't help feeling that I'd read a history -- to put it rather grandly -- of the passage of a group of people on the earth. Most of these people would be gone now, or well past retirement age, but we've still got their letters. That's an argument for writing a novel and, I suppose, for writing letters, too.
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LibraryThing member RickGeissal
Interesting novel made up entirely of letters from and to various characters. Some of the characters are very interesting, very few are delightful.
Call number
084
Awards
PEN Translation Prize (Longlist — 2020)
Warwick Prize for Women in Translation (Longlist — 2020)
The A.V. Club best books (2019)
Original publication date
1973
ISBN
8429761330 / 9788429761337