Pirandello is generally known for his plays, but his short stories are also very impressive.
This book includes a rich collection of his stories and the translation seems to be reflecting the wit and the tone of the originals.. These stories about human conditions, old traditions and extreme characters deserve the attention of all short story readers, but the readers with special interest to Sicily and the old Italian culture will surely find them very satisfying.
Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity.

Not being much of a short story reader anyway, and having always thought of Pirandello as a modernist and therefore “difficult” I was pleasantly surprised by this wonderful collection of stories, from someone who really is a master storyteller. With empathy and insight he explores the lives of “ordinary” people coping with the trials and tribulations of everyday life. Often bleak, even tragic, sometimes absurd, but always beautifully crafted, these stories are a wonderful introduction to Pirandello’s writing and make me want to read more.

Wonderful collection of short stories.
A new translation by Virginia Jewess.

I have heard of this author before but mainly related to drama. I hadn't read any of his short stories before. And what wonderful collection of stories they are.

Pirandello is regarded as one of Europe's great modernists. He won the Nobel prize in literature in 1934 (for his drama).

In 1922, Pirandello began gathering his short stories into a collection, aiming to write a story for each day - "Novelle per un anno" (Short Stories for a Year). The title of this collection is in his format and commemorates his title.

Modernism is a period of literature that I particularly enjoy and this collection totally lived up to my expectations. The stories reminded me very much of the stories of Chekhov and some of Katherine Mansfield.

Amazing. I definitely recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this ARC.

Luigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer who was born in Sicily and awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, shortly before his death. In 1904 Pirandello lost most of his and his wife's wealth when his father's sulphur mines, in which Pirandello was heavily invested, were destroyed in a flood. His wife, Antonietta, subsequently suffered an emotional collapse which led to her eventually being committed to an asylum.

Given this background it should come as no surprise that his plays sometimes border on the absurd and deal with topics such as the dynamics between reality, sanity, and identity. On the other hand his short stories capture the essence of rural life in Sicily - whether it's through dialogue or the sharp observations of the daily life of the island's inhabitants.

Full review: https://wanderingwestswords.wordpress.com/2020/09/04/stories-for-the-years-luigi-pirandello/

This is a fantastic collection of cleverly written snapshots of ordinary lives seeped in suspense. I have no idea what the original work in Italian language is or how good the translation is since i don't know Italian, but some of the short stories were good.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

I was familiar with Pirandello's plays, yet this collection of stories accenuates his aptitude in storytelling.

Right from the off we see this author, pretty much only known for one play in the English-speaking world, was quite a dab hand at showing concise dramas of justice with these short stories, of how the local villagers of his native Sicily might have more of the Mafia-styled ideas of retribution than they would ever admit. A poor chap sees his surprise profit from a land sale as an affront when it's nothing like the real deal to have been had, and things quickly get quite dark as a result. A goldfinch means a lot – perhaps too much – to an elderly couple. 'The Jar' has a businessman so ready with the law writ he can't help but bring trouble on himself, even when he buys the giant olive oil container of the title. We see what the phrase 'what goes around comes around' means in a young marriage – and there's a lot more going around than we first imagine. There's also a look at the cyclical way of progress where Sicilian rural midwives are concerned.

Among the brilliant pieces here are 'Two Double Beds', which features two elderly widowed people in love and finally free of their first set of marriage vows, but perhaps kept apart by a firmer contract, written in stone; 'The Light in the Other House', featuring a mysterious lodger; and 'Night', which (much more successfully than the final piece, written so much after the rest and not really fitting in as it is) conveys a certain mournfulness, as people find themselves at the right place to meet each other, but the wrong time to do anything about the fact their fate has put them both in the wrong part of Italy. Being dislocated in that small country, with rural travel and rural attitudes exacerbating distance, is certainly a theme here.

The list of contents almost defies an over-arching theme, however – cursed children; frustrated invalids; a doubting young(ish) priest; rained-off Monsignors; a Jew persecuted by his own father-in-law; grieving train travellers; summer visitors of the lovely and loving kind; a bat, which becomes another way for Pirandello to discuss getting the real on to the theatre stage; a raven (not sure about that one); getting a coffin ready early; Romulus; a most down-trodden lecturer; a kid goat and a diplomat; a class-sensitive horse; a dying almond farmer, in what might have been a sequel to the first story had it not been written nine years previously; a surprising medical volunteer – the list is nearly endless. We also get social realism with poverty visiting a pleasure park, and partly again when a newspaper seller takes up his evening shift at his kiosk.

Perhaps the best sign of what a writer he was is in giving us a twisty little look at a man and his mother-in-law, and apparent madness, and hidden mysteries – especially if the introduction here is true and it was partly inspired by Pirandello needing to get his own wife sectioned. There's inspiration, and there's inspiration – and these are pretty much fully inspired works. Yes, there were a couple of small flaws here and there, and certainly a tendency towards the morbid and maudlin towards the end in the order we get here (sadness in a train carriage; an "extraneous" man, and a general change towards glumness), but generally speaking this is a wonderful book. They're literate yet highly readable little tales, and you can come for the craft and end up admiring the conceits of them all or vice versa. Even with a few I would have excised it makes for one of the best short story collections I've ever read – a collection as readable today as it would have been in the author's time.

death of tradition. Evoking the memory of an Italy on the brink, these stories prominently feature an aversion to and rejection of modernity, seen as the cause of much ruin. Indeed, the title of Stories for the Years invoke nostalgia for the years past while also capturing the timeless quality of the tales within.

Some of the best stories in this collection are those which map the psychological tensions created by the social upheaval modernity brought about in the late 19th and early 20th century, especially those between traditional knowledge and the creation of formal academia: The “Donna Mimma” stories trace the ‘education’ of a traditional mid-wife who is put out of job by one with a professional diploma, thereby highlighting the disorientation and disarray brought about by a modernity which seeks to appropriate and dislodge tradition. References to major events in contemporary history like the unification of Italy, the Russian Revolution, and the Great War also abound in these stories, providing a piercing, early modernist understanding of the times.

Meanwhile, “Romulus,” one of my personal favourites, uses the founding of Rome to look at the way the poetry and wonder of civilization is reduced to history. In his animal stories, like “Prancing” and “The Cat, A Goldfinch, and the Stars,” Pirandello depicts the poignant depths of subjectivity and human emotions. Another excellent story, “The Bat,” uses the staging of a play to contemplate the state of art in face of reality.

Virginia Jewess’ translation here reminds one of Margaret Jull Costa’s work with Portuguese writers like Fernando Pessoa, especially in her ability to fluidly render poignant emotions, naturalist descriptions, irony, ambiguity and Pirandello’s complex, experimental prose style in the English language. Stories for the Years reveals Pirandello’s extraordinary range as a writer drawing from philosophy, verismo and folklore, and resuscitates his importance in the literary canon

I found this quite a bleak collection of stories though there are moments of respite such as the radiant red geranium of the final tale. There are situations of the Absurd that are close to despair, and a sense of an uncaring universe as a backdrop to the human comedy (in the Dantean sense). Don't expect conclusions or an ordered moral framework - these are more modernist but also hark back to a fabular tradition (such as the story about the cat and the goldfinch). A thoughtful introduction and translation does these stories justice.

I studied Six Characters in Search of an Author at university, but I had no idea Pirandello had also written novels and short stories until I saw this book available for request on NetGalley. I was therefore keen to give it a try, and I wasn't disappointed. Stories for the Years is a delightful collection of quirky tales. Each set in Sicily, with nods to local folklore, they introduce a charming group of memorable and engaging characters and fun situations. At times hilarious and at times poignant, they cover a wide range of themes, but with a special focus on identity and a vanishing world as the modern breaks in on tradition. Well worth a read, and it's a clear 4.5 stars from me.

Beautiful words and interesting entries from a brilliant literary mind. I knew Pirandello as a playwright, but this collection showcases his work in new ways.

I've read six characters in search of an author by the same author and it was an interesting though difficult read, I felt the same about this book too. The plots are enticing and the translation keeps up the pace of the events but it is a difficult read.