Hard Labor

(Paperback)

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A landmark translation of passionate, fiercely intelligent poetry about coming of age by one of the most influential Italian writers of the twentieth century. A landmark translation of passionate, fiercely intelligent poetry about coming of age by one of the most influential Italian writers of the twentieth century. Cesare Pavese's 1936 collection of poems, Lavorare stanca, is increasingly regarded as one of the most astonishing and powerful books of twentieth-century poetry. William Arrowsmith's translations capture the spirit and complex vitality of Pavese's voice. This bilingual edition also contains a thorough introduction to Pavese's work, notes to individual poems, and two critical essays that he wrote about Lavorare stanca, the book by which he hoped to be remembered. "Lavorare stanca," he once declared, "is a book that might have saved a generation."

Author Bio

Cesare Pavese (1908-1950) was born on his family's vacation farm outside of Turin in northern Italy. After publishing Hard Labor in 1936, he turned to writing novels and short stories. He won the 1950 Strega Prize for fiction, Italy's most prestigious award, for The Moon and the Bonfires (available as an NYRB Classic). Later the same year, after a brief affair with an American actress, he committed suicide. Pavese's posthumous publications include his celebrated diaries, essays on American literature, and a second collection of poems, entitled Verr la morte e avr i tuoi occhi (Death Will Come and Will Have Your Eyes). NYRB Classics also publishes The Selected Works of Cesare Pavese. William Arrowsmith (1924-1992) was an American scholar recognized for his translations of classical and contemporary works, including the plays of Aristophanes and Euripides, and the poetry of Eugenio Montale and Cesare Pavese. He was the founding editor of The Hudson Review and Arion, and served as an editor of Delos, Mosaic, The American Poetry Review, and Pequod. Ted Olson is a nine-time Grammy-nominated music historian who has coproduced numerous documentary albums of traditional Appalachian music. He teaches at East Tennessee State University.