The Italian short story through the centuries: the met(a)morphoses of the novella

This collection of 13 essays brings together Italian and American scholars to present a cooperative analysis of the Italian short story, beginning in the 14th century with Giovanni Boccaccio and arriving at the 20th century with Alberto Moravia and Anna Maria Ortese.

Throughout the book, the contributors carefully and intentionally unpack and explain the development of the short story genre and demonstrate the breadth of themes - cultural, historical and linguistic - detailed in these narratives.

Dedicated to a genre 'devoted to lightness and flexibility, as well as quickness, exactitude, visibility and multiplicity', this collection paints a careful and exacting picture of an important part of both Italian and literary history.