Quote:
Originally Posted by Namekuseijin
I'm holding my reading of Dante, Ariosto and Petrarca for when I'm fluent in italian... 
that's the only way to read poetry: to learn the language they were written in. Too bad I'm right now trying my best at french and latin... hopefully classic italian is closer to its roots.
Gotta admit the only modern italian literature name I'm used to is Umberto Eco. And, uh, Liberatore and Tamburini...  |
Dante is atrociously difficult even for an Italian that has studied it in school, 4 hours a week for the last 3 years of high school. A hard, stony hard hermetic poetry.
Rime petrose he called them. Ariosto is simply unaccessible.
I would dare to suggest you to read Calvino. A great European novel is La Coscienza di Zeno by Italo Svevo. And if you want to try some hard Italian, try Carlo Emilio Gadda. A very easy one is Guareschi. My wife is reading Lessico Familiare by Natalia Ginzburg. She is ecstatic with it. I also love Primo Levi.