André's Life of Henry VII Published

We’re happy to announce that Daniel Hobbins’ translation of Bernard André’s The Life of Henry VII has now been published in both paperback and hardcover. The e-book edition will soon be available too.

Composed between 1500 and 1502, The Life of Henry VII is the first official Tudor account of the triumph of Henry VII over Richard III. Its author was a poet and historian at the court of Henry VII and tutor to the young Prince Arthur; and André’s account reflects the impact of new humanist models on English historiography.

Although cast as a biography, the work dramatizes the dynastic shift that resulted from Henry Tudor’s seizure of the English throne at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 and the death of Richard III. It is the first extended argument for Henry’s legitimate claims to the English crown.

The Life of Henry VII occupies an important place in the literary tradition of treatments of Richard III, begun by André, continued by Thomas More and Polydore Vergil, and reaching its classic expression in Shakespeare.

Dacia Maraini Nominated for Booker Prize

Readers of our fiction and poetry will be pleased to know that Italica Press author (and Italian novelist, essayist, journalist, playwright and poet), Dacia Maraini, has been nominated for the Man Booker International Prize 2011, the most prestigious literary award in the UK.

The International Prize is awarded for an author’s life work; and Italica Press has played some part in bringing this work to English-speaking audiences. Over the years we’ve published an English edition of her Donna in guerra (Woman at War, 1988), translated by Mara Benetti and Elspeth Spottiswood; her short story “Maria,” translated by Martha King in our anthology New Italian Women (edited by Martha King in 1989); and selections from her poetry in our anthology Contemporary Italian Women Poets, edited and translated by Cinzia Sartini Blum and Lara Trubowitz (2001).

We’ve long been impressed by Maraini’s clarity and strength, her superb style, and her wise engagement with issues of women’s voices and personal experiences. She has been a rare presence in Italian letters over the past generation and she richly deserves this nomination, the award, and further recognition of her work in the English-speaking world.

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.