Every September, the Galician coast recalls a writer it never quite knew how to contain. Emilia Pardo Bazán — novelist, short story master, feminist, and Spain’s first female university professor — spent five decades refusing the room society allotted her. On her birth anniversary, we revisit her life, her Gothic short fiction, and the untranslated collection, Cuentos trágicos, still waiting for English-language readers. Continue reading Emilia Pardo Bazán
لم يتركوني كي أحتضن عظام أخي.لم يسمحوا لي بأن أقترب من الجثة أيضًا.كنت أصرخ، وهم يصرخون:“لا تفعلي ذلك، أرجوكِ لا تنظري!” فأجبَروني على ألّا أنظر،لآخر مرة،لنظرة الوداع. لم يسمحوا لي، خوفًا من هول المنظر.لكنني أخبرتهم:سيكون جميلًا، حتى لو كان أخي بضع عظام. أرجوكم، لا تفعلوا الشيء ذاتهعندما نجد جثمان أخي الآخر.أرجوكم، لا تفعلوا. أعلم أنكم خائفون عليّ،كي لا أصاب بالصدمة.لكني صُدمتُ منذ الثالثة من عمري،حين … Continue reading They did not let me, by Amira Atiya Abu Al-Husain
“Spontaneous Me” is one of Walt Whitman’s most daring and sensual poems, taken from the “Children of Adam” section of Leaves of Grass. A hymn to the instinctive nature of human desire and its connection with the natural world. In this article you will find the original text in English, along with the translations into Italian and Spanish, with a reflection on the bodily and naturalistic language that made Whitman so revolutionary for his time.
“Spontaneous Me” è una delle poesie più audaci e sensuali di Walt Whitman, tratta dalla sezione “Children of Adam” di Leaves of Grass. Un inno alla natura istintiva del desiderio umano e alla sua connessione con il mondo naturale. In questo articolo trovate il testo originale in inglese, insieme alle traduzioni in italiano e spagnolo, con una riflessione sul linguaggio corporeo e naturalistico che rese Whitman così rivoluzionario per il suo tempo. Continue reading Spontaneous me, by Walt Whitman 🌿🖋📖
On September 9, 1908, Cesare Pavese was born in the Piedmontese village of Santo Stefano Belbo, in the vine-covered hills of the Langhe. He died forty-one years later — by his own hand, in a Turin hotel room, two months after winning Italy’s most prestigious literary prize. In between, he wrote some of the most honest and quietly devastating prose and poetry produced in twentieth-century Italy. To mark the anniversary of his birth, we revisit the life, work, and enduring legacy of one of Italian literature’s most essential figures: translator of Melville, Faulkner, and Steinbeck; editor and architect of the Einaudi publishing house; poet of solitude and landscape; and the author of The Moon and the Bonfires, the novel Susan Sontag called the work of “one of the few essential novelists of the mid-twentieth century.” From the spare narratives of Hard Labor and The House on the Hill to the mythic dialogues of Dialogues with Leucò and the posthumous poems of Death Will Come and Will Have Your Eyes, this post covers his major achievements, his most celebrated short fiction, his literary legacy — and six of his most enduring verified quotes. Continue reading Cesare Pavese 🏴
A kite rising over Gaza becomes a symbol of survival in Amira Atiya Abu Al-Husain’s newest poem. We share her words alongside news of the paperback edition of her memoir, The Diary from Gaza. Continue reading What is a kite compared to a warplane? by Amira Atiya Abu Al-Husain
On August 28, 1749, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in Frankfurt am Main — and the world of literature has never quite recovered. Poet, playwright, novelist
, scientist, and statesman, he was the last true polymath of European letters: a writer whose output ran to more than 140 volumes and whose influence stretched from Darwin to Nietzsche, from Mozart to Thomas Mann. To mark the 277th anniversary of his birth — a date celebrated this year in Weimar with cultural events at the historic Goethe-Haus — we revisit the life and major achievements of one of world literature’s most indispensable voices. From the epistolary fever of The Sorrows of Young Werther and the philosophical grandeur of Faust to the founding Bildungsroman of Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship and the enigmatic allegories of his shorter fiction, this is an invitation to meet — or rediscover — the writer George Eliot called “Germany’s greatest man of letters.” We also gather six of his most enduring quotes on life, art, trust, and the art of becoming. Continue reading Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
English translation curated by Enzo Martinelli of Grazia Deledda’s short story, “The Devils of the Neighborhood”, from her short story collection “Summer Sunshine”, along with original Italian text.
Traduzione inglese curata da Enzo Martinelli del racconto di Grazia Deledda, “I diavoli del quartiere”, dalla sua raccolta di racconti “Sole d’estate”, con testo originale a fronte. Continue reading The Devils of the Neighborhood, by Grazia Deledda 🇮🇹✒️🏴
English translation by Enzo Martinelli of Horacio Quiroga’s gothic short story, “El almohadon de pluma – The Feather Pillow”, from his short story collection “Cuentos de amor, locura y muerte – Stories of Love, Madness and Death”. Published in translation into English, along with the original text in Spanish of the story. Continue reading The Feather Pillow, by Horacio Quiroga
English translation, curated by Enzo Martinelli, of Pirandello’s short story, “Uno di più- One More”, from his short story collection “Novelle per un anno – Short Stories for a Year”, with original text in Italian. Continue reading One More, by Luigi Pirandello ✒️📃🇮🇹
Every July 26th marks the birthday of Carl Gustav Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist who gave us the shadow, the archetype, and the collective unconscious. But who was the man behind these now-everyday words? This post traces Jung’s journey from his lonely Swiss childhood to his dramatic break with Freud, the birth of analytical psychology, and his groundbreaking dialogue with Eastern philosophy through Taoism and the I Ching. Discover how his ideas quietly shaped fields as different as literature, art, anthropology, and even addiction recovery — and why concepts like individuation and shadow work feel more relevant today than ever. Complete with verified quotes (and a few famous fakes debunked), this is a birthday tribute to the thinker who taught us that looking inward is how we truly wake up. Continue reading Carl Gustav Jung
