This whimsical Italian fantasy, originally published in 1922, belongs on
the shelf next to The Little Prince and Alice and Wonderland. Simple
language by translator Gilson gives the novel a poetic tone, while STO's
charming black-and-white illustrations add humor.--VOYA
Alone in a room with nothing but an old mirror and a chess set, a young
boy anticipates a boring afternoon. But like Alice just before she fell
down the rabbit hole--and wound up in Wonderland--this boy is about to
embark on a marvelous adventure. Gazing at the mirror, he discovers that
the chess pieces (the reflections, not the real ones) are alive! When
the White King invites him into the world on the other side, the
excitement begins. There, all the rules of the real world are reversed.
There, you can have a perfectly reasonable conversation with a perfectly
unreasonable chess piece. There, you can meet anyone who's ever looked
into the mirror (even a hundred years ago). This bewildering experience
leads to some odd questions: What goes on inside a mirror when no one is
looking at it? What if the reflected world is more real than the one
where we live? And speaking of our world, how will our hero get back to
this side of the mirror?
Join him on his fantastic journey where nothing is more absurd than
reason or more important than freedom of imagination.
[A] story told in a voice that's charmingly direct, sweetly
self-referential...and more than a little trippy...Like all good books
for children, it also has unusual insights into childhood itself:
'...when you're ten years old, standing or sitting are exactly the
same.'--Philadelphia Inquirer
The narrator's dry wit, reminiscent of P. G. Wodehouse, makes for an
appealing journey and, coupled with the whimsical pen-and-ink drawings,
a charming package with a timeless air.--Publishers Weekly
Motherhood is the theme of these two intimate novellas by Italian writer
Bontempelli, who preceded such better-known authors of 'magic realism'
as Jorge Luis Borges and Alejo Carpentier by more than two decades in
his fusion of the miraculous and the matter-of-fact...The elegantly
restrained passion of these two tales, penned in Bontempelli's delicate
prose, proves yet again the writer's literary genius.--Publishers
Weekly (review of Separations)
Separations is a complete triumph. Bontempelli's work prefigured the
magic realism popularized by many Latin American writers,
andSeparations is an excellent example of this style. Elegant,
superbly crafted, and masterfully written, these tales are not easily
forgotten; the heroines are haunting and the plots finely honed.
Bontempelli is truly a 'fantastic' writer.--Library Journal (review of
Separations)
A protégé of Pirandello, Massimo Bontempelli (1878-1960) was a
prolific writer of poetry, plays, and prose fiction. Bontempelli now
occupies a major place in 20th century Italian letters, and his works
are translated in every major European language.
Sergio Tofano, also known as STO, was an Italian illustrator, actor,
director, and playwright. For fifty years his illustrated work appeared
in the children's supplement of Corriere della Sera, one of the oldest
and most widely read newspapers in Italy.
Estelle Gilson's translation of Umberto Saba's Stories and
Recollections won both the Italo Calvino and PEN Renato Poggioli
awards, and the MLA's first Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione award in 1994 as
the best literary translation of the previous two years. Her fiction,
essays, and articles appear in many publications. She translated
Bontempelli's Separations.
