A Very Old Man: Stories

Svevo’s unfinished but bounteous sequel to his 1923 masterpiece, Zeno’s Conscience, returns readers to the searching, self-deluding mind of Zeno Cosini of Trieste. Now in his 70s, having made a small fortune through war profiteering, he’s still an inveterate smoker, still philandering, and still vexed by his colorful family. In the first of five short sketches, Zeno manages to squander his wealth in the aftermath of WWI and is locked out of his own company thanks in part to the machinations of his devious son-in-law, Valentino. He is no less baffled by his own son, the mediocre artist and sometimes communist Alfio; and his daughter Augustina, whose excessive shows of virtue become even more galling after Valentino’s death. He at least has his grandson Umbertino to dote on and his sardonic nephew Carlo to play cards with. He also has Felicita, a working-class mistress. Throughout it all, Zeno remains, in his own words, “a man born in inopportune times,” a diffident, comic embodiment of Modernism despite his repeated failure to comprehend the times, prone to maxims like “mother nature is maniacal; she has a mania for reproduction” and liable to romanticize his humble circumstances. Though essentially a coda to its classic precedent, there’s plenty to chew on. These shorts offer a welcome last word from Svevo’s immortal hero. (Apr.)