Full Description
The village of Hora is a magical place that blurs the boundaries between a mythical past and the present. It is here that Costantino Avati grows alongside his impetuous and melancholic father, Francesco; his mother, Elena, who hides a secret torment; his two sisters, Orlandina and Lucrezia; and his grandfather Lissandro, the last custodian of an era and a world that are disappearing. As Costantino feels the pangs of first love with the intriguing Roman Isabella, he also discovers the romantic allure of his own village and its rich cultural heritage. In his first novel, acclaimed author Carmine Abate transforms his Italo-Albanian (Arbëresh) hometown of Carfizzi, Calabria, into a magical realist wonderland that rivals Gabriel García Márquez's Macondo. Inspired by the oral traditions of the old Albanian bards and incorporating the poetic local dialect, The Round Dance is a unique piece of multicultural literature that was named by the publishing house Mondadori as one of the one hundred greatest Italian novels of the twentieth century.
Contents
Foreword, "Memory and Identity Performance in the Imagined 'Hora' of Albanians of Italy or Arbëreshë," Francesco Altimari
Translator's Note, Michelangelo La Luna
Lojmë lojmë, vasha, vallen
Prologue
Një
Dy
Tre
Katër
Pesë
Gjashtë
Shtatë
Tetë
Nendë
Djetë
Eleven
Vu spërvjeret Skandërbeku
Viatrice delle fate
The Green-Eyed Partridge
The Smallest White Castle in the World
The Little Ladies and the Bored Little Soldier
The Round Dance
Skanderbeg's Bust
The Christmas Hearth
The Fake Mericano
Zëmërgùri
Two Fingers of Honor on the Forehead
Ish një jëmë shumë e mirë
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Shkoi një ditë mjegullore
The Final Vallja
Author's Note
Notes on Contributors
