Starting my journey into Italian literature

Around two years ago, I stumbled on a book called “The Tartar Steppe” by Dino Buzzatti. This book became my starting point in this journey. I had downloaded it but then left the file for half a year. I finally started reading it in July 2023, and I was absolutely in love with it. Then I also enjoyed “The Secret of the Old Woods” by the same author.

When I came to live and work Kyoto, I met an Italian colleague. Discussing Russian and Italian literature, he suggested me to read “Invisible Cities” by Italo Calvino. At that time, I was reading “The Skin” and “Kaputt” by odious Curzio Malaparte. “So why don’t I turn it into something more?” I thought. Unconsciously starting to engage with the Italian language, listening a lot to Italian hip-hop, I’ve started listing the books of Italian writers I would like to read.

Around a month ago, I also started the Italian tree on Duolingo. Remembering that there is a bilingual edition of “The Name of the Rose” by Umberto Eco somewhere on my hard drive, I decided to finish the tree and then try to go through this book as well, just for fun.

So, right now, the list consists of the titles below. Some of them I’ve already finished, some did not even started:

Dino Buzzatti

• Il deserto dei Tartari (The Tartar Steppe / The Stronghold), FINISHED
• Il segreto del Bosco Vecchio (The Secret of the Old Woods), FINISHED

Curzio Malaparte

• Kaputt, FINISHED
• La pelle (The Skin), FINISHED
• Il ballo al Kremlino (The Kremlin Ball), this book was not finished by the author, but it is a part of the trilogy, the continuation of the two titles above; I adore reading about early Soviet history. Therefore, a novel set in Russia during this period, written by such a controversial person as Malaparte, is very tempting.
• Technique du coup d’etat (The Technique of Revolution)
• Il Volga nasce in Europa (The Volga Rises in Europe)

Italo Calvino

• Le città invisibili (The Invisible Cities)
• Fiabe italiane (Italian Folktales)
• Perché leggere i classici (Read the Classics)

Umberto Eco

• Experiences in Translation (Dire Quasi La Stessa Cosa) - a couple of years ago, I tried to read this book but found it boring; I want to give it one more try
• Il nome della rosa (The Name of the Rose) - as I’ve stated above, after completing Duolingo Italian tree, I’ll read a bilingual (Italian/Russian) book

Alberto Moravia

• I racconti romani (Roman Tales)

I’ll take my time and read these 13 books at my pace, patiently. I will document my journey in a series of blog posts. And then, I think it would be cool to make a video about this experience. I have something to say about Buzzatti and Malaparte now, so I’ll write the posts about them soon.