Description

Book Synopsis

Goliarda Sapienza''s The Art of Joy was written over a nine year span, from 1967 to 1976. At the time of her death in 1996, Sapienza had published nothing in a decade, having been unable to find a publisher for what was to become her most celebrated work, due to its perceived immorality. One publisher''s rejection letter exclaimed: ''It''s a pile of iniquity.'' The manuscript lay for decades in a chest finally being proclaimed a forgotten masterpiece when it was eventually published in 2005.

This epic Sicilian novel, which begins in the year 1900 and follows its main character, Modesta, through nearly the entire span of the 20th century, is at once a coming-of-age novel, a tale of sexual adventure and discovery, a fictional autobiography, and a sketch of Italy''s moral, political and social past. Born in a small Sicilian village and orphaned at age nine, Modesta spends her childhood in a convent raised by nuns.Through sheer cunning, she manages to escape, and eventual

The Art of Joy

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    A Paperback / softback by Goliarda Sapienza, Anne Milano Appel

    £12.34

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      Book details

      Publisher Penguin Random House Group
      Imprint Penguin Classics
      Published 6 March 2014
      ISBN-13 9780141198477
      978-0141198477
      ISBN-10 0141198478
      Also in:
      Fiction Contemporary Fiction

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      Goliarda Sapienza''s The Art of Joy was written over a nine year span, from 1967 to 1976. At the time of her death in 1996, Sapienza had published nothing in a decade, having been unable to find a publisher for what was to become her most celebrated work, due to its perceived immorality. One publisher''s rejection letter exclaimed: ''It''s a pile of iniquity.'' The manuscript lay for decades in a chest finally being proclaimed a forgotten masterpiece when it was eventually published in 2005.

      This epic Sicilian novel, which begins in the year 1900 and follows its main character, Modesta, through nearly the entire span of the 20th century, is at once a coming-of-age novel, a tale of sexual adventure and discovery, a fictional autobiography, and a sketch of Italy''s moral, political and social past. Born in a small Sicilian village and orphaned at age nine, Modesta spends her childhood in a convent raised by nuns.Through sheer cunning, she manages to escape, and eventual

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