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Article: Cesare Pavese. The Selected Works of Cesare Pavese.(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Review of Contemporary Fiction
- Article date:
- June 22, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Review of Contemporary Fiction. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Cesare Pavese. The Selected Works of Cesare Pavese. Trans. and intro. R. W. Flint. New York Review Books, 2001. 397 pp. Paper: $16.95.
In four first-person novels Pavese renders with formidable talent extreme isolation, where people group only out of obscure necessity. As one character observes, "Having money means you can isolate yourself." Everyone is removed from the world, whether or not it be wartime or post-WWII Italy. Refuge is sought in cellars, tombs, cloisters, sheltered bathing spots. Jobs and studies mean little, women somewhat more. The primary haven for the three male narrators is the natural world, the repository of beauty, fecundity, and ...