Three New Titles from Italica Press

Italica Press is happy to announce the publication of three new titles at year’s end: Elye of Saint-Gilles and two dual-language editions of the poetry of Ada Negri: Songs of the Island and The Book of Mara.
See below for details.

Elye of Saint-Gilles is Published

Elye of Saint-Gilles tells the story of Elye — the son of Count Julien of Saint-Gilles, a vassal of William of Orange — and of his exploits during his youth and early knighthood. It is part of the William of Orange cycle, whose historical kernel is linked to events of the First and Fourth Crusades and the Reconquest of Spain.

Elye of Saint-Gilles is the first English translation of the Old French chanson de geste and includes a new critical edition, facing the English text. This work encapsulates many of the standard elements of the French chanson de geste and provides an excellent example of the virtues of this literary form for entertainment and instruction.

This title has been edited and translated by A. Richard Hartman and Sandra C. Malicote. Their introduction places Elye firmly within the context of its literary forms, of the crusading ethos, and of Western attraction to — and prejudices against — the Muslim world. Italica Press has published this edition in both hardcover and paperback editions, and will soon make it available for the Kindle and other handhelds.

Ada Negri’s Songs of the Island

In December Italica Press published Songs of the Island, the second of two dual-language editions of one of Italy’s most important twentieth-century poets, Ada Negri.

Toward the end of March 1923, Negri enjoyed a brief holiday in Sicily and from there she went to the island of Capri, where she stayed for about a year and wrote I Canti dell’Isola/Songs of the Island. These poems are the result of the blinding light of the island, the ardor of a holiday both physical and spiritual. They embody “the magic of the tangible and the flashes of invisible reality,” and express the poet’s hour of quiet and reflection.

Via the impressionistic sweep of these images, the poet transports us with Capri’s explosion of light and color. Enchanted by pearls, amethyst and jade, the mythological sea of Ulysses, the unstoppable bleeding of poppies, climbing purple roses, and the castaways of dreams, the reader wants to be seduced, if only for a moment, by this world of the senses.

Songs of the Island is translated, with an introduction and bibliography, by Maria A. Costantini. Italica Press has published this edition in both hardcover and paperback editions, and will soon make it available for the Kindle and other handhelds.

Ada Negri’s The Book of Mara

This December Italica Press published two dual-language volumes by one of Italy’s most important twentieth-century poets, Ada Negri. Both are translated, with an introduction and bibliography, by Maria A. Costantini. The first, The Book of Mara, reflects Negri’s tormented love affair with a man whose life was cut short by premature death. It is, in essence, one long poem arising from a woman’s most intimate space  — a most passionate expression of love, loss and redemption. Written in 1919 with unusual frankness, especially in view of Italian society of the time, Il Libro di Mara is considered the high point of Negri’s poetic work.

Through metrical and formal execution, The Book of Mara demonstrates the originality of her verse, which opens up to a more personal dimension — almost prose-like. Her verse is impressionistic, almost mystical, spanned with bristling lyrics, sudden igniting bursts and visionary flashes.

Italica Press has published this edition in both hardcover and paperback editions, and will soon make it available for the Kindle and other handhelds.