It is a conundrum for the critic: is the crudeness of the rendering the result of an expressionist style or a lack of finesse or skill in rendering?
Italian
Book Review: “When the Night” — A Memorably Icy Love Story
In spare, exact prose Cristian Comencini lets this story unfold against an Alpine setting that is so vivid it, too, becomes a character in this strangely compelling novel.
Fuse Theater Review: Carlo Goldoni’s Classic Comedy Goes Mod
The Broadway run of The National Theatre’s production of One Man, Two Guvnors, based on The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni, has been nominated for 7 Tony Awards. Here is Fuse Critic Ian Thal’s review of the National Theatre Live broadcast of the British production, first posted in September, 2011.
Book Review: Niccolò Ammaniti’s “Me and You” — a lightly charming, digestible morsel
Italian writer Niccolò Ammaniti usually writes with an unadorned style about moral predicaments of the young in small-town Italy. “Me and You,” a slender effort in all respects, covers this ground as well, with the difference that fourteen-year-old protagonist Lorenzo Cumi is from an affluent Roman family.
Book Review: In Alberto Moravia’s Creative Laboratory — “Two Friends”
The brilliance of Alberto Moravia’s cool diagnostic vision — sleek, clear, cruel, and existential no matter how emotional the conflict — puts us off. His male protagonists often self-consciously analyze their puerility to the point of comic masochism.
World Books Update: October 2009
By Bill Marx A number of new pieces on World Books since the last update in September, including my podcast interview with Benjamin Moser about his biography of Clarice Lispector (1920-1977) entitled “Why This World” from Oxford University Press. The Brazilian writer’s challenging stream-of-consciousness technique, lack of political bite, physical beauty and, Moser argues, her […]