Little Virtues

Description

“As far as the education of children is concerned,” states Natalia Ginzburg in
this collection of her finest and best-known short essays, “I think they
should be taught not the little virtues but the great ones. Not thrift but
generosity and an indifference to money; not caution but courage and a
contempt for danger; not shrewdness but frankness and a love of truth; not
tact but a love of one’s neighbor and self-denial; not a desire for success
but a desire to be and to know.” Whether she writes of the loss of a friend,
Cesare Pavese; or what is inexpugnable of World War II; or the Abruzzi, where
she and her first husband lived in forced residence under Fascist rule; or the
importance of silence in our society; or her vocation as a writer; or even a
pair of worn-out shoes, Ginzburg brings to her reflections the wisdom of a
survivor and the spare, wry, and poetically resonant style her readers have
come to recognize. “A glowing light of modern Italian literature . . .
Ginzburg’s magic is the utter simplicity of her prose, suddenly illuminated by
one word that makes a lightning streak of a plain phrase. . . . As direct and
clean as if it were carved in stone, it yet speaks thoughts of the heart.”
—The New York Times Book Review Read more

Features:

Product Details:

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Arcade Publishing; 1st edition (August 1, 2013)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 120 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1611457971
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 71
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4.8 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.3 x 8.25 inches
• Best Sellers Rank: #153,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #489 in Essays (Books) #624 in Author Biographies #9,863 in Literary Fiction (Books)
• #489 in Essays (Books)
• #624 in Author Biographies