Lurid, but uniquely vivid, 06 Jul 2005
This handsome little volume contains four stories by the young D'Annunzio, written in the early 1880s. Three are slight, but 'The Virgins' is a substantial and startling piece of writing, and an important example of late nineteenth-century 'verismo' or realism. It begins by describing in detail the experience of a sick woman slowly recovering from typhus: she responds with a voluptuous intensity to the returning sensations of sight, smell and sound - leading to amorous arousal, rape and death (some readers will find the story lurid and repellent). I know no text that evokes physical sensation so effectively. In other D'Annunzio stories that are equally vivid there tends to be a divorce between the thoughts of the characters and amazingly evocative descriptions that manifestly reflect not their sensibility but that of the author; here the two coincide, and the result is, in my view, D'Annunzio's finest story (in his later fiction he sadly abandoned realism in favour of second-rate psychology). My only hesitation in giving this volume an unreserved recommendation is that there is a rival English version (in D'Annunzio, 'Nocturne and Five Tales of Love and Death') that is an even better translation and which follows a revised and marginally improved version of the story (to which D'Annunzio gave the new title 'The Virgin Orsola'). The present volume has the advantage, however, of being singularly neat and attractive in both format and typeface.

Lurid, but uniquely vivid, 06 Jul 2005
This handsome little volume contains four stories by the young D'Annunzio, written in the early 1880s. Three are slight, but 'The Virgins' is a substantial and startling piece of writing, and an important example of late nineteenth-century 'verismo' or realism. It begins by describing in detail the experience of a sick woman slowly recovering from typhus: she responds with a voluptuous intensity to the returning sensations of sight, smell and sound - leading to amorous arousal, rape and death (some readers will find the story lurid and repellent). I know no text that evokes physical sensation so effectively. In other D'Annunzio stories that are equally vivid there tends to be a divorce between the thoughts of the characters and amazingly evocative descriptions that manifestly reflect not their sensibility but that of the author; here the two coincide, and the result is, in my view, D'Annunzio's finest story (in his later fiction he sadly abandoned realism in favour of second-rate psychology). My only hesitation in giving this volume an unreserved recommendation is that there is a rival English version (in D'Annunzio, 'Nocturne and Five Tales of Love and Death') that is an even better translation and which follows a revised and marginally improved version of the story (to which D'Annunzio gave the new title 'The Virgin Orsola'). The present volume has the advantage, however, of being singularly neat and attractive in both format and typeface.

Il Piacere, The Pleasure, Gabriele d'Annunzio, translated by Virginia S. Caporale, 06 Oct 2008
Il Piacere, The Pleasure, Gabriele d'Annunzio, translated by Virginia S. Caporale
The original Italian book needs a separate review, however this comment is about the translation. I am not the complaining type but this book is the worst translation I have ever come across in my many years.It is full of spelling errors which make bizarre reading (eg.page 127..'between pedestals without statutes...')strange tenses (eg.page27...'He would have give all...')missing words ,additional words, strange vocabulary (eg.page 12...'he was a very able preparer'...) typing mistakes (eg.page 235...'Foprgive me'...)or how about page 227 ...' as though averse to conta*ct'... Was there ANY proof reading?
The actual translation style is another issue, not an easy book to translate, but I get the distinct impression that the text was fed through a computer translation programme which substituted word for word rather than sweated over for meaning and rephrased. The end result borders on the unintelligible. The original Italian version and a dictionary would be slower, but I think less frustrating.