Selected Short Stories Rewritten in Easy and Modern Italian for Intermediate Learners (B1-B2)
by Laura Tegazzin, Simplicio Stella
Le novelle di Pirandello
Selected Short Stories by Nobel Prize Winner Luigi Pirandello, Rewritten in Easy, Modern Italian for Intermediate Learners
The original stories by Luigi Pirandello, adapted by Laura Tegazzin and Simplicio Stella
Discover Pirandello through his short stories
Luigi Pirandello is known throughout the world as one of the great Italian writers of the twentieth century, but his short stories show the remarkable range of his writing. Some are comic and almost absurd, others dramatic, moving or disturbing. They deal with poverty and work, family and loneliness, social conventions, cruelty, desire, madness, and those unexpected moments that can suddenly change the way a person sees life.
These are not stories written specifically for students of Italian. They are original works by a Nobel Prize-winning author, adapted to make them accessible to intermediate learners. You are not reading summaries: you are reading Pirandello’s stories in an accessible form.
The short stories
Pirandello’s characters live in Sicilian villages, mines, rural areas, small towns and middle-class homes. Some struggle with poverty or social injustice; others find themselves caught in strange situations or forced to face emotions they do not fully understand.
In La giara, a dispute over a huge broken jar turns into an increasingly comic battle between two stubborn men. In Ciàula scopre la luna, the harsh life of a young mine worker leads to one of Pirandello’s most moving moments: the sudden discovery of the beauty of the moon.
The stories can be ironic, cruel, tender or grotesque, but they are always deeply interested in people and in the often surprising ways they react to the world around them.
Why read this edition?
Pirandello’s original language can be challenging for modern students, especially because of complex sentence structures, literary vocabulary and some regional expressions. In this edition, the language has been simplified and updated while preserving the plots, characters, atmosphere and distinctive tone of each story.
The short-story format is particularly suitable for language learners: each story is complete in itself, so you can read one at a time and return to the book whenever you wish. The focus is on the pleasure of reading literature while improving your Italian.
Pirandello and his short stories
Luigi Pirandello received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934. Although he is internationally famous above all for his plays and novels, short fiction occupies a central place in his work. Through a wide range of characters, Pirandello observes society, human weakness and the contradictions of everyday life with irony, compassion and remarkable storytelling skill.
His short stories reveal a much broader side of Pirandello than the one usually associated with themes of identity and appearances: he can be comic, tragic, realistic, poetic and surprising.
Read the free preview and discover one of his most famous short stories.