Zeno Cosini, a well-off Trieste businessman, writes his memoirs on the advice of his psychoanalyst, Dr. S., as part of his treatment. Zeno is a hypochondriac who tries repeatedly to quit smoking, and he recounts his father's death, his bungled courtship of the Malfi sisters, his marriage to Augusta and an affair with Carla, and a business partnership with his brother-in-law. His account is self-serving and full of comic evasion, and the analyst, annoyed, publishes it out of spite.
A classic of Italian modernism and a comic study of self-deception, this is for readers who like unreliable narrators and wry psychological fiction. It is humane and funny.
Deep, inward-looking, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Wisdom Collector. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1988
- Publisher
- Mondadori
- ISBN
- 9788804492948
- Language
- IT
