For the series A JOURNEY THROUGH CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN LITERATURE | Book club, third out of nine lectures by Shirley Finzi Loew concerning a number of subjects that have worried Italian literature in the past century: individual and society, self-fulfillment and relations between women and men.
Family Sayings is Ginzburg’s memoir of growing up in a large, quirky family in the pre-WWII years and the family’s experiences during and after the war. Most of the time, the focus is not on her, the narrator, but her parents, siblings, their friends, and their partners. It’s very detailed, intimate, and amusing, with the inside jokes and references frequently popping up to provide a good characterization of all the friends and relatives who people the book. When the war starts, everything becomes more difficult, but even with some close calls, the family mainly stays the same – her father grumbles, the siblings fight and marry and complain. However, when serious things do happen, there’s a kind of distance in Ginzburg’s descriptions – she’ll matter-of-factly state that someone’s parents were transported off, never to return, and never elaborates on her husband’s death – the only in-depth descriptions are a couple of her experiences before and after. It’s very effective at bringing attention to these incidents with the contrast in narrative style, as well as showing how even large losses give way to the rhythm of daily life.
- The nine lectures are a series. Mandatory FREE registration. For further information, please contact the Italian Cultural Institute of Haifa at 04-8536091.
- Participants are invited to read the novel in Hebrew or in the original language before each lecture.
Shirley Finzi Loew graduated in Computer Engineering (Technion). After making a career in the computer industry, she moved to literature. She graduated in comparative literature (University of Haifa) with a thesis on Elsa Morante’s novels and has been working as translator from Italian into Hebrew since then.
Event held in Hebrew.
Refreshments from 18:15.
Monday, December 17th 2018, at 18:30
Italian Cultural Institute in Haifa
Rehov Meir Rutberg 12 – Haifa
FREE ADMISSION
Reservation no longer available