Greatly influenced by writers ranging from Dickens and Proust to Woolf and Colette, Anna Banti was a prominent figure on the Italian literary scene from the 1940s until her death in 1985. The five tales in "The Signorina" and Other Stories display her talent across many genres-fiction, science fiction, historical fiction, mystery. Banti's stories portray the ageless conflict between the expectations of society and the aspirations of the individual. In "Uncertain Vocations," the young Ofelia becomes a pianist after her marriage prospects fail, but self-doubt turns her success into miserable mediocrity. In the futuristic "The Women Are Dying," men acquire a new evolutionary ability; women, lacking that ability, are consigned to the status of an inferior race. "Joveta of Betania," set in the time of the Crusades, follows the daughter of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem as she escapes to a life of seclusion as an abbess-a life that becomes for her a source of proud freedom and deep bitterness. In "The Sailing Ships," a young boy creates an imaginary world from an uncertain childhood memory. "The Signorina" tells of a young woman who eventually finds herself, as a writer.
Anna Banti was the pseudonym of Lucia Lopresti-Longhi (1895-1985), the author of eight novels (including the widely acclaimed Artemisia), a play, and seven collections of short stories. She wrote critical works on artists from Fra Angelico to Monet and translated works by, among others, Alain-Fournier, Thackeray, and Woolf. Martha King specializes in the translation into English of works by twentieth-century Italian women writers. Carol Lazzaro-Weis is professor of French and Italian at the University of Missouri. Her research interests include the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French novel, feminist literary theory, and twentieth-century Italian literature.
"Considered one of Italy's major twentieth-century women writers, Anna Banti is best known for her novel Artemisia. Most of her literary production is concerned with the relationship between women, the female struggle for identity and independence, and the individual's entrapment by social institutions and conventions. The stories selected for this collection speak to these aspects of Banti's universe." --Fiora A. Bassanese, author of Understanding Luigi Pirandello "The collection is very nicely balanced, with styles ranging from the patently autobiographical to the fantastic.... An excellent addition to the MLA Texts and Translations series." --Robert J. Rodini, author of Ludovico Ariosto: An Annotated Bibliography of Criticism, 1956-1980
