The Late Mattia Pascal.

Luigi Pirandello.

ISBN 10: 0941419444 / ISBN 13: 9780941419444

Published by Marsilio Publishers, New York, NY, 1995

About this Item

Very Near Fine in Wraps: shows only the most minute indications of use: just a hint of several faint flecks of foxing at the upper corner of the fore-edge and top edge and a faint smudge at the bottom edge of the text block; the sewn binding leans ever so slightly, but remains secure; the text is clean. Free of creases to the panels. Free of creases to the backstrip. Free of any creased or dog-eared pages in the text. Free of any underlining, hi-lighting or marginalia or marks in the text. Free of ownership names, dates, addresses, notations, inscriptions, stamps, or labels. A handsome copy, structurally sound and tightly bound, showing a couple of minor, unobtrusive cosmetic imperfections. Bright and clean. Corners sharp. Very close to "As New". NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. (8.25 x 5.5 x 0.75 inches). xiii, 262 pages. Translated by William Weaver. Language: English. Weight: 12.1 ounces. Reprint Edition (1995). This translation was first published in 1964. Trade Paperback. An attractively produced book. Reprint Edition (1995). This translation was first published in 1964.

Seller Inventory # 56472

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Late Mattia Pascal.
• Publisher: Marsilio Publishers, New York, NY
• Publication Date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0941419444
• ISBN 13: 9780941419444
• Binding: Paperback
• Seller catalogs:
  • Literature: World

About this title

Synopsis

While living an oppressive, provincial existence, Mattia Pascal learns that he has been mistakenly declared dead. Blessed with that rarest of opportunities - the chance to start an entirely new life - he moves to a new city under an assumed name, only to find this new "free" existence unbearable. Faking his own suicide, he returns to his hometown, where his wife has remarried and his job has been filled. Reduced to a sad walk-on part in his own life, the only role now left to him is that of the "late Mattia Pascal."

Review

Three writers of the twentieth century have given voice to--and leant their names to--our disquiet, our injuries, and our fear; at the same time, through the catharsis or measure of contemplation, which are among the revelations of art, they have helped us to live by tempering our anxiety and desperation; and I am using this term, tempering, in a musical sense...of striking a more pure, more cristalline, more vibrant note. These three writers are Pirandello, Kafka, and Borges.
-- Leonardo Sciascia

Very funny, often hilariously so. It is also moving, disturbing, tragic. For Pirandello saw comedy residing in "the fundamental contradiction ... between human aspiration and frailty," a contradiction that induced "a certain perplexity between weeping and laughing."
-- The New York Times Book Review