The Round Dance - (Other Voices of Italy) by Carmine Abate (Paperback)

About the Book

A tender, poetic coming-of-age tale drawn from author Carmine Abate's childhood in the village of Carfizzi, The Round Dance transforms southern Italy into a magical realist wonderland that rivals Gabriel García Márquez's Macondo. A multicultural masterpiece inspired by ancient Albanian oral traditions, publisher Mondadori named it among the one hundred greatest Italian novels of the twentieth century.

Book Synopsis

The village of Hora is a magical place that blurs the boundaries between a mythical past and the present. It is here that Costantino Avati grows alongside his impetuous and melancholic father, Francesco; his mother, Elena, who hides a secret torment; his two sisters, Orlandina and Lucrezia; and his grandfather Lissandro, the last custodian of an era and a world that are disappearing. As Costantino feels the pangs of first love with the intriguing Roman Isabella, he also discovers the romantic allure of his own village and its rich cultural heritage. In his first novel, acclaimed author Carmine Abate transforms his Italo-Albanian (Arbëresh) hometown of Carfizzi, Calabria, into a magical realist wonderland that rivals Gabriel García Márquez's Macondo. Inspired by the oral traditions of the old Albanian bards and incorporating the poetic local dialect, The Round Dance is a unique piece of multicultural literature that was named by the publishing house Mondadori as one of the one hundred greatest Italian novels of the twentieth century.

Review Quotes

"Carmine Abate's ​The Round Dance is a mesmerizing, intergenerational modern epic of resistance and change, staying and leaving, recovery and dispersal. It kidnaps our senses and our mind's eye in the swirl of its poetic vitality and light-heartedness. La Luna's outstanding, sensitive translation is a true gift to English readers of all ages."--Giovanna Miceli Jeffries "author of Bitter Trades: A Memoir"

"Carmine Abate invites readers to experience the Italo-Albanian world and to deepen their appreciation for the uniqueness of the Arbëreshë community. Step back in time through the lively characters of this brilliantly written novel that explores themes of collective memory, myth and reality, migration, and cultural transmission."--Mithat Gashi "Albanian American activist"

"Carmine Abate's novelistic debut is a groundbreaking postmodern 'metaphor of the world.' This Italo-Albanian 'round dance, ' brilliantly translated by Michelangelo La Luna, offers a blueprint for how to deal with cultural belonging in a globalized world while holding aesthetic as well as moral, religious, and social value." --Dagmar Reichardt "coeditor of Icone della transculturalità"

"The Arbëreshë community has made southern Italy its home for six centuries by renewing its identity as a distinct ethnic, linguistic, and religious minority. Masterfully written, ​The Round Dance opens their world for English-speaking audiences and is a welcome addition to the canon of migrant literature." --Ines Murzaku "coeditor of Greek Monasticism in Southern Italy"

"Through a lovely translation of Carmine Abate's poetic language, The Round Dance unveils to English readers the marvelous, centuries-long odyssey of the Albanian people in southern Italy and beyond, underscoring what some have called 'the powers of diaspora.'" --Tullio Pagano "author of The Making and Unmaking of Mediterranean Landscape in Italian Literature: The Case of Ligu"

About the Author

CARMINE ABATE is a prolific Italian author whose many books include the novels Between Two Seas and The Homecoming Party and the short story collection The Wedding Banquet and Other Flavors. His debut novel, The Round Dance (Il ballo tondo), won the ARGE ALP Readers' International Prize.

MICHELANGELO LA LUNA is a professor of Italian language and literature at the University of Rhode Island. He is the author of several books and articles on Italian and Italian-Albanian writers and poets, such as Carmine Abate, Luigi Capuana, Dante Alighieri, Girolamo De Rada, Dacia Maraini, and Pier Paolo Pasolini.