The Art of Joy: A Novel

About this book

The tumultuous twentieth century told through the life of a single extraordinary woman Rejected by a series of publishers abandoned in a chest for twenty years Goliarda Sapienzas masterpiece The Art of Joy survived a turbulent path to publication. It wasnt until 2005 when it was released in France that this novel received the recognition it deserves. At last Sapienzas remarkable book is available in English in a brilliant translation by Anne Milano Appel and with an illuminating introduction by Angelo Pellegrino. The Art of Joy centers on Modesta a Sicilian woman born on January 1 1900 whose strength and character are an affront to conventional morality. Impoverished as a child Modesta believes she is destined for a better life. She is able through grace and intelligence to secure marriage to an aristocratwithout compromising her own deeply felt values. Friend mother loverModesta revels in upsetting the rules of her fascist patriarchal society. This is the history of the twentieth century transfigured by the perspective of one extraordinary woman. Sapienza an intriguing figure in her own righther father homeschooled her so she wouldnt be exposed to fascist influenceswas a respected actress and writer who drew on her own struggles to craft this powerful epic. A fictionalized memoir a book of romance and adventure a feminist text a bildungsromanthis novel is ultimately undefinable but deeply necessary; its genius will leave readers breathless.