Evening Descends Upon The Hills (Stories from Naples) By Anna Maria Ortese

About The Book

A stunning classic set in Italy's most vibrant and turbulent metropolis - Naples - in the immediate aftermath of World War Two. These lively and superbly written stories helped inspire Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels. Ortese's work was also championed by Italo Calvino, who was her Italian editor. The stories and reportage collected in this volume form a powerful portrait of ordinary lives, both high and low, family dramas, love affairs, and struggles to pay the rent, set against the crumbling courtyards of the city itself, and the dramatic landscape of Naples Bay. This classic is exquisitely rendered in English by Ann Goldstein and Jenny McPhee, two of the leading translators working from Italian today. Included in the collection is 'A Pair of Eyeglasses', one of the most widely praised Italian short stories of the last century.

Review

As for Naples, today I feel drawn above all by Anna Maria Ortese-- Elena Ferrante

This short collection, so full of arresting images and startling observations, is a portrait of an author who found in a damaged city her perfect muse― Daily Telegraph

Anna Maria Ortese is a writer of exceptional prowess and force. The stories collected in this volume, which reverberate with Chekhovian energy and melancholy, are revered in Italy by writers and readers alike. Ann Goldstein and Jenny McPhee reward us with a fresh and scrupulous translation.-- Jhumpa Lahiri

In Ortese's insistence in seeing the truth in her surroundings... it's easy to understand how she inspired Elena Ferrante― Country Life

Elena Ferrante has cited Ortese as one of her greatest influences, and the connections are obvious in [these stories], which infuse a grimy, chaotic Naples with unsentimental menace rather than romanic mystique. Ortese gathers concrete details about the realities of poverty, and, like Ferrante, delineates moments of status tension with blunt accuracy ― The New Yorker

Required reading for Ferrante fans― Kirkus Reviews

An astonishing descent into the underworld ... A modern artist has rarely rendered so intensely the spectrality of all things. ― La Repubblica

About Author

Anna Maria Ortese

Anna Maria Ortese (1914-1998) is one of the most celebrated and original Italian writers of the 20th century. Evening Descends Upon the Hills brought her widespread acclaim in her native country when it was first published in 1953 and won the prestigious Premio Viareggio.