Showing 1-13 of 13 items.

The Twilight of Rome's Papal Nobility

The Life of Agnese Borghese Boncompagni Ludovisi

Rutgers University Press

The Twilight of Rome’s Nobility provides an intimate look at an illustrious family who grew up surrounded by almost unimaginable wealth and power. A tender elegy to a bygone era, this book offers a first-hand account of late nineteenth-century Italy’s social upheavals as the family’s vast Villa Ludovisi was lost.

More info

The Caravaggio Syndrome

A Novel

Rutgers University Press

Headstrong art historian Leyla is expecting a baby with feckless computer technician Pablo. There’s only one problem: she can’t stand him. And one more problem: her student Michael wants Pablo for himself. But when the writings by utopian philosopher Tommaso Campanella unlocks the secret of a painting and a mystical gateway to 17th-century Naples, Leyla and Michael embark on a voyage of self-discovery in search of a new life.

More info

Life, Brazen and Garish

A Tale of Three Women

By Dacia Maraini; Translated by Elvira G. Di Fabio; Foreword by Sara Teardo
Rutgers University Press

This fresh take on the epistolary novel tells the story of a family through the disparate perspectives of a teenage daughter writing in her diary, a mother composing letters, and a grandmother speaking into a recorder. In turns heartbreaking and laugh-out-loud funny, it is a triumph of voice and style from one of Italy’s most renowned writers.

More info

Glory

The Gospel of Judas, A Novel

By Giuseppe Berto; Translated by Gregory Conti; Foreword by Alessandro Vettori
Rutgers University Press

In Glory, Judas Iscariot finally tells his side of the story. From his perspective, Jesus is the betrayer, while Judas himself brought humanity a chance at redemption. Through Judas’s searing tortured monologues, this late masterpiece from one of Italy’s greatest writers investigates deep questions about the nature of faith, rebellion, fate, and free will.
 

More info

When Things Happen

A Novel

By Angelo Cannavacciuolo; Translated by Gregory Pell; Foreword by Jay Parini
Rutgers University Press

Michele Campo is a speech pathologist living the high life in Naples. But when he begins to treat a poor foster child, he is forced to confront dark family secrets about his own rise from poverty. The award-winning When Things Happen tells a powerful story about memory, destiny, and class consciousness in one of Italy’s most divided cities.  

More info

The Round Dance

A Novel

Rutgers University Press

A tender, poetic coming-of-age tale drawn from author Carmine Abate’s childhood in the village of Carfizzi, The Round Dance transforms southern Italy into a magical realist wonderland that rivals Gabriel García Márquez’s Macondo. A multicultural masterpiece inspired by ancient Albanian oral traditions, publisher Mondadori named it among the one hundred greatest Italian novels of the twentieth century.

 

More info

AntoloGaia

Queering the Seventies, A Radical Trans Memoir

Rutgers University Press

AntoloGaia offers a vivid first-hand account of the rise of the gay liberation movement in Italy, revealing how it was intimately intertwined with other forms of left-wing activism. Porpora Marcasciano conveys both the heartbreak of living through an era of institutionalized homophobia and the queer joy of encountering Italy’s unique gay and trans communities.





 

More info

The Outcast

A Novel

By Luigi Pirandello; Translated by Bradford A. Masoni; Foreword by Daniela Bini
Rutgers University Press

A tale of false accusations, social stigma, and adultery, The Outcast is an early masterwork from Nobel Prize–winning Italian author Luigi Pirandello. Combining elements of Zolaesque naturalism with emerging modernist aesthetics, the novel is notable for its deft use of irony and its resourceful and resilient heroine. 

More info

Oh, Serafina!

A Fable of Ecology, Lunacy, and Love

By Giuseppe Berto; Translated by Gregory Conti; Foreword by Matteo Gilebbi
Rutgers University Press

Newly translated into English, Giuseppe Berto’s 1973 novel Oh, Serafina! is a whimsical fable of ecology, lunacy, and love. One of the first environmentally-conscious works of Italian literature, it questions the destructive effects of industrial capitalism, the many forms spirituality might take, and the ways our society defines madness.
 

More info

Islam and Me

Narrating a Diaspora

Rutgers University Press

In Islam and Me, Shirin Ramzanali Fazel tells her story of being a Somali immigrant in Italy and shares the experiences of other Muslim women in southern Europe. She reveals the common prejudices they encounter and explores how Italy might reimagine its national culture and identity to become more diverse, inclusive, and anti-racist. 

 

More info

Reversing the Gaze

What If the Other Were You?

Rutgers University Press

Tired of being scrutinized, criticized, and fetishized for her black skin, Cameroon-born scholar Geneviève Makaping turns the tables on Italy’s white majority, regarding them through the same unsparing gaze to which minorities are subjected.Reversing the Gaze offers a unique perspective on otherness and the work we must do to create a truly inclusive society. 

More info

My Language Is a Jealous Lover

Rutgers University Press

My Language Is a Jealous Lover bears witness to the frustrations, soul-searching, pain, and joys of embracing another tongue. Adrián N. Bravi weaves together his own experiences as an Argentinian-Italian with the stories of authors who lived and wrote between multiple languages, including Samuel Beckett, Vladimir Nabokov, Ágota Kristóf, and Joseph Brodsky.

More info

In Praise of Disobedience

Clare of Assisi, A Novel

By Dacia Maraini; Introduction by Rudolph Bell; Translated by Jane Tylus
Rutgers University Press

An author receives a mysterious e-mail begging her to tell the story of Clare of Assisi, the thirteenth-century Italian saint. As she becomes captivated by this subversive figure, the author tells the inspirational story of Saint Claire, a visionary who liberated herself from the chains of materialism and patriarchy. 
 

More info
Find what you’re looking for...
Stay Informed

Receive the latest UBC Press news, including events, catalogues, and announcements.


Read past newsletters

Publishers Represented
UBC Press is the Canadian agent for several international publishers. Visit our Publishers Represented page to learn more.