Dallas Public Library

The Moncalvos, Enrico Castelnuova ; translated from the Italian by Brenda Webster and Gabriella Romani ;introduction by by Gabriella Romani

eng

Includes bibliographical references (page xvi)

no index present

fiction

The Moncalvos

bibliography

960842405

Enrico Castelnuova ; translated from the Italian by Brenda Webster and Gabriella Romani ;introduction by by Gabriella Romani

"Enrico Castelnuovo's The Moncalvoswas originally published in 1904 in Italian. This is the first English translation of this famous novelist's most controversial title. Set at the turn of the 20th century, 50 years after Garibaldi's revolution and the unification of Italy, the Jewish residents of Italy have come into their own as landowners, academics, business people, and financiers. But one branch of the Moncalvos family yearns for the level of respectability that only an aristocratic title can confer. This requires much political maneuvering, but it also requires conversion to Catholicism. Two brothers, a mathematician and a banker, and their children, take very different routes through this maze"--, Provided by publisher"Castelnuovo's most well known novel was The Moncalvos, here translated into English for the first time. It provides a rare portrayal of Jewish middle class life in Italy at the time. Giacomo and Gabriel Moncalvo are the main protagonists of the novel. Two brothers, living in Rome at the end of the nineteenth century, in the midst of Italy's economic and urban development after its political unification, both aspiring to climb the social ladder of the newly formed Italian nation. But while Giacomo, a university professor, remains anchored to the traditions of his Jewish up-bringing, Gabrio, a wealthy businessman, seeks assimilation and encourages his daughter to marry the sickly offspring of an old aristocratic Roman Catholic family--a marriage which will grant the family access to the most exclusive echelon of Roman society but will also entail the conversion of the daughter, Mariannina, and eventually of both her parents"--, Provided by publisher