Volume 8, Number 8 · May 4, 1967
Svevo's Comedy
By Denis Donoghue
Short Sentimental Journey, and Other Stories
by Italo Svevo, Translations by Beryl de Zoete, by L. Collison-Morley, by Ben Johnson
University of California, 319 pp., $6.00
Italo Svevo: The Man and the Writer
by P.N. Furbank
University of California, 232 pp., $6.00
The Joyce Collection at Cornell includes among its curiosities a description of Joyce by Ettore Schmitz, otherwise known as Italo Svevo. In 1906 Schmitz, manager of a paint factory in Trieste, hired Joyce to teach him English. One of the set exercises was a description of the teacher. The text of Schmitz's effort is given in Richard Ellmann's biography of Joyce and reprinted now in Mr. Furbank's study of Svevo. Schmitz fastens upon his teacher in motion, in gesture, walking, as if the Master were Jacques Tati in Monsieur Hulot's Holiday. Joyce seems to Schmitz 'a man who considers things as points breaking the light for his amusement.' It is hard to decide whether this is as brilliant as it sounds or merely a stumble into profundity caused by the difficulties of English grammar. It is a remarkable epiphany, however achieved. But it applies even more splendidly to Svevo than to Joyce.
Review, 2829 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |