. Antonio Tabucchi was born in Pisa in 1943 and died in Lisbon in
2012. A master of short fiction, he won the Prix Medicis Etranger
for Indian Nocturne, the Italian PEN Prize for Requiem- A
Hallucination, the Aristeion European Literature Prize for Pereira
Declares, and was named a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the
French Government. Together with his wife, Maria Jose de Lancastre,
Tabucchi translated much of the work of Fernando Pessoa into
Italian. Tabucchi's works include The Flying Creatures of Fra
Angelico, and The Woman of Porto Pim (Archipelago), Little
Misunderstandings of No Importance, Letter from Casablanca, and The
Edge of the Horizon (New Directions).
. Translator Bios
. Antonio Romani and Martha Cooley's translations of poems by
Italian poet Giampiero Neri have been published in AGNI, Atlanta
Review, PEN America, A Public Space, and elsewhere.
. Martha Cooley is the author of two novels, The Archivist and
Thirty-Three Swoons. Her works of short fiction, poetry, and essays
have appeared in PEN America, The Common, A Public Space, and
elsewhere.
"In this collection of short stories, the
late Tabucchi (The Flying Creatures of Fra Angelico)
plays with philosophical themes such as the circularity of memory
and time, depicting characters who struggle to preserve voices they
can no longer hear and to communicate these echoes to others.
… Exposing memory for the fiction it is, these wonderful
stories produce a melancholic nostalgia even as they undermine it."
-- Publishers Weekly
"A pensive, beautifully written meditation on personhood and
nationhood in the new age of European unity ... many of the
characters in this joined collection—something more than short
stories but not quite a novel—are stateless and uprooted; they come
from somewhere else, and they're never quite at home where they are
... A pleasure ... for fans of modern European literature." --
Kirkus Reviews
"There is in Tabucchi's stories the touch of the true magician, who
astonishes us by never trying too hard for his subtle, elusive and
remarkable effects." -- The San Francisco Examiner
"Tabucchi's work has an almost palpable sympathy for the
oppressed." -- The New York Times
"As with all fine writers, it is remarkable how the same themes
surface effortlessly in Tabucchi’s work even when the material is
quite new. . . In particular there is an engaging dialogue
between two Italians under sunshades on a Croatian beach: a sick
man in his forties and a precocious young girl. Gradually, it
emerges that neither was born in Italy: the girl, unsurprisingly
called Isabel, is from Peru while the man was born “in a country
that’s no longer on any maps”; yet both culturally are entirely
Italian. The man, an invalided soldier, is dying of uranium
poisoning while the girl is facing the breakup of her family.
Nevertheless the entire conversation unfolds with great charm,
playfulness, and decorum in a summery Mediterranean haze. It
is a welcome return to Tabucchi at his best." — The New York Review
of Books
"By now the appearance of a new novel by Antonio Tabucchi is a
literary event." -- World Literature Today
"I found myself cheered by [Tabucchi's] rich, occlusive writing,
filled with flecks of gold, panning the river bottom of our lives,
finding here and there scintillating bits, some deviously
interesting characters, all deftly laid out on the page." —RALPH
Magazine
"Poignant, philosophical... Tabucchi has done the seemingly
impossible with this collection: in an era of fast-paced plots,
Tabucchi’s characters, language, and very form force readers to
pause and reflect on one small, powerful moment. It’s a pleasure
each step of the way." — Laura Farmer, The Gazette
"Fluid and airy... Contemplative and without affection, these
stories would be well accompanied by a wistful gaze out a window –
an enjoyable memento mori on a warm summer day which
will soon fade into all the others." — Ruairí
Casey, Totally Dublin
"History, personal or collective, weighs on everyone in these
stories, sculpting their inner lives. And yet, Tabucchi suggests,
an unlikely transcendence is possible." -- Philip
Graham, Fiction Writers Review
"Each of Tabucchi’s pieces feels like a treasure, a small gift or
sweet to be unwrapped gleefully... This was an author who
understood that a great part of life is spent not doing but
envisioning what one could do and remembering what one has done.
“Time Ages in a Hurry” is a collection that showcases not only
Tabucchi’s intelligence but also his wisdom." — The Harvard
Crimson
"[Tabucchi's] prose creates a deep, near-profound and sometimes
heart-wrenching nostalgia and constantly evokes the pain of
recognizing the speed of life's passing which everyone knows but
few have the strength to accept ... Wonderfully thought-provoking
and beautiful." -- Alan Cheuse, NPR's All Things Considered
"Poetic and prophetic… I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of
stories, all having central characters reliving an important, and
life changing memory. The reflection upon time and place captured
in a melancholic style with depth of clarity around quite simple
everyday occurrences." — Messenger's Booker
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
