Kaputt is a 1944 autobiographical novel by the Italian writer Curzio Malaparte.
.png) Book cover for Kaputt (1946 English language edition) | |
| Author | Curzio Malaparte |
|---|---|
| Translator | Cesare Foligno |
| Language | Italian |
| Publisher | Editore Casella |
Publication date | 1944 |
| Publication place | Italy |
Published in English | 1946 |
| Pages | 645 |
Plot
editThe book was inspired by Malaparte's experiences as a war correspondent at the Eastern Front of World War II. It presents itself as Malaparte's personal witness account of intense violence and cruelty, but the content is largely fictional.[1]
Reception
editThe book was an international success. Already at the publication, several European critics received the book's narrator as a fictionalised author persona, and the book as an attempt from Malaparte to position himself after Italy's defeat and his own past as a fascist sympathiser.[1] When the English translation was published in 1946, Kirkus Reviews received it as a true account and called it "a subtly brilliant piece of writing" where Malaparte is "whipping the sensibilities to a sharp awareness of the degradation of Europe, of the utter collapse of morality, integrity, and so on".[2]
Translations
editThe book was translated into Lithuanian by Tomas Venclova [3]
References
edit- ^ a b Hope, William (2000). Curzio Malaparte: The Narrative Contract Strained. Market Harborough: Troubador. pp. 82–86. ISBN 1-899293-221.
- ^ "Kaputt". Kirkus Reviews. 1 November 1946. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
- ^ "Kaput - Curcio Molaparte; Tomas Venclova; | Tyto Alba". tytoalba.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 2024-01-10.
Further reading
edit- Hope, William (1999). "The narrative contract strained: The problems of narratorial neutrality in Malaparte's Kaputt". The Italianist. 19 (1): 178–192. doi:10.1179/ita.1999.19.1.178.
- Walker, Robert G. (2010). "Malaparte and Literary Strangeness: A Critical Preface to Kaputt". The Sewanee Review. 18 (2): 270–282. doi:10.1353/sew.0.0252. JSTOR 40801276.
External links
edit
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