I am sure a cigarette has a more poignant flavour when it is the last'
A neurotic Italian businessman obsessed by his own hypochondria, Zeno Cosini recounts his early years to his psychoanalyst Dr S as a form of therapy. With a cigarette stamped permanently between his fingers, he invents a self-serving and rationalized monologue of his life.
As evocative a writer as his good friend James Joyce, in this modern classic, Svevo's examination of human experience is irresistible. During his time in Paris, Joyce circulated the manuscript among literary influencers, and Svevo soon came to be regarded as one of the great European modernists.
riverrun editions presents Beryl de Zoete's 1930s translation of Zeno. De Zoete was a dancer, a dance theorist and a writer whose life was at least as interesting as anything she wrote or translated.
