Moscardino

by Enrico Pea

Genres: Literary Fiction

Synopsis

A small masterpiece, Pea’s lyrical autobiographical novel paints a fiery and intimate portrait of an old man through the bold brushstrokes of his grandson. The passions and tensions between the old eccentric and his brothers play themselves out in mythical sketches before a vivid backdrop of the hills of Lunigiana. Moscardino, the first novella of his tetralogy, Il romanzo di Moscardino, is anarchic and haunting. Pound conducts Pea’s vernacular song, allowing images to flow from the land, the flesh, and beyond.

Release date: August 18, 2011

Publisher: Archipelago

Print pages: 71

Sample

The Signora Pellegrina went into mourning at once, she put on black silk, put a black hem on her nightgowns, lowered the blinds, and lit a lamp on the wide linen-cupboard.
She was of high lineage and had come in for the shares of two sisters who had gone into convents and passed away early, but her husband had been a poor hand at guiding the domestic economy and had left little either of her good heritage or of his own. He had been honorary physician to the Confraternity of the Misericordia, and High Chamberlain of the Church of San Lorenzo; he had had, therefore, a magnificent funeral.
The Signora Pellegrina showed no signs of grief at his passing. She said: Well out of it; you are.
Then she assembled her three sons and called Cleofe, the general servant who had come from the mountains, to act as witness:
You are all three grown men.
Your progenitors are no longer. Divide what is left.
The clothes I have on are my own. Don’t grumble if I wear silk.
After that she forgot to talk, as if turned mute.
My grandfather was the youngest of the Signora’s three sons.