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Edouard Manet
"Richly detailed and informative, (this biography) exposes the character of an artist who maintained a sharply defined duality between his public and private personas" ("Philadelphia Inquirer" and "grants us a far deeper understanding of why (Manet's) paintings outraged so many of his peers" ("Booklist", starred review). 70 halftones.
Let the Meatballs Rest, and Other Stories about Food and Culture
Let the Meatballs Rest: And Other Stories About Food and Culture (Arts & Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History)
Edouard Manet
A portrait of the French painter explores the interplay of his life and art and blends the cultural and social history of nineteenth-century Paris with the artist's struggle against adversity
Italian Identity in the Kitchen, or Food and the Nation
Massimo Montanari draws readers into the far-flung story of how local and global influences came to flavor Italian identity. The fusion of ancient Roman cuisine—which consisted of bread, wine, and olives—with the barbarian diet—rooted in bread, milk, and meat—first formed the basics of modern eating across Europe. From there, Montanari highlights the importance of the Italian city in the development of gastronomic taste in the Middle Ages, the role of Arab traders in positioning the country as the supreme producers of pasta, and the nation's healthful contribution of vegetables to the fifteenth-century European diet. Italy became a receiving country with the discovery of the New World, absorbing corn, potatoes, and tomatoes into its national cuisine. As disaster dispersed Italians in the nineteenth century, new immigrant stereotypes portraying Italians as "macaroni eaters" spread. However, two world wars and globalization renewed the perception of Italy and its culture as unique in the world, and the production of food constitutes an important part of that uniqueness.
Cheese, Pears, and History in a Proverb
"Do not let the peasant know how good cheese is with pears" goes the old saying. Intrigued by these words and their portent, Massimo Montanari unravels their origin and utility. Perusing archival cookbooks, agricultural and dietary treatises, literary works, and anthologies of beloved sayings, he finds in the nobility's demanding palates and delicate stomachs a compelling recipe for social conduct. At first, cheese and its visceral, earthy pleasures were treated as the food of Polyphemus, the uncivilized man-beast. The pear, on the other hand, became the symbol of ephemeral, luxuriant pleasure-an indulgence of the social elite. Joined together, cheese and pears adopted an exclusive savoir faire, especially as the "natural phenomenon" of taste evolved into a cultural attitude. Montanari's delectable history straddles written and oral traditions, economic and social relations, and thrills in the power of mental representation. His ultimate discovery shows that the enduring proverb, so wrapped up in history, operates not only as a repository of shared wisdom but also as a rich locus of social conflict.
Emilio's Carnival
In this novel, Svevo tells the story of the amorous entanglement of Emilio, a failed writer already old at 35, and Angiolina, a beautiful but promiscuous young woman. A study in jealousy and self torment, it is suffused with a tragic sense of existence.
Medieval Tastes
In his new history of food, acclaimed historian Massimo Montanari traces the development of medieval tastes—both culinary and cultural—from raw materials to market and captures their reflections in today's food trends. Tying the ingredients of our diet evolution to the growth of human civilization, he immerses readers in the passionate debates and bold inventions that transformed food from a simple staple to a potent factor in health and a symbol of social and ideological standing. Montanari returns to the prestigious Salerno school of medicine, the "mother of all medical schools," to plot the theory of food that took shape in the twelfth century. He reviews the influence of the Near Eas...
Journey to the World of the Black Rooster
Description: JOURNEY TO THE WORLD OF THE BLACK ROOSTER tells the story of a twenty-year-old graduate student in French literature who longed to go to Paris, but her fiancé's Fulbright fellowship sent them to Rome -- where she had no wish to be -- for their first year of marriage. That was the beginning of a half-century love affair with Italy, and more specifically, with Tuscany, where the Bromberts lived for long periods and to which they return every summer. JOURNEY TO THE WORLD OF THE BLACK ROOSTER is a love story in which the author weaves the story of her marriage, the story of her coming to love Italy, and the story of Italians coming to love her, into a vivid text that moves between ...
Dreaming the Miracle
Which of us...has not dreamed of the miracle of a poetic prose, musical, without rhyme...supple...rugged...?--Baudelaire
Me, You
The unnamed narrator of this slim, alluring novel recalls a summer spent at age sixteen on an idyllic Italian island off the coast of Naples in the 1950s, where he spends his days with Nicola, a local fisherman. The narrator falls in love with Caia, who shares with him that she’s Jewish, saved by Italian soldiers from the Nazis, who killed the rest of her Yugoslav family. The boy demands answers about the war from the adults around him, but is rebuffed by everyone but Nicola, who tells him of Italy’s complicity with the Nazis. His passion for Caia and his ardent patriotism lead him to a flamboyant, cataclysmic act of destruction that brings his tale to an end.
