Diego De Silva was born in Naples in 1964. He is the author of plays, screenplays and six novels. I Hadn’t Understood was a finalist for the Strega Prize, Italy’s most prestigious literary award, and winner of the Naples Prize for fiction. His books have been translated into eight languages. He currently lives in Salerno.
Italy
Diego De Silva
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My Mother-In-Law Drinks By Diego De Silva, translated from the Italian by Antony Shugaar. (Europa Editions, 373 pages, $17.) “Hapless” is a word that promises complications, evoking possible comedy but also the potential for uneasy self-reflection — for don’t...— Apr 7 2015![]()
Introduced in Diego De Silva’s 2012 novel, “I Hadn’t Understood,” Vincenzo Malinconico is a lawyer almost in name only, pathologically indecisive and given to lengthy ontological meditations. He is caught in a feud between his ex-wife, Nives, and his cantankerous former...— Dec 24 2014![]()
An unexpected joy plucked from the pile of proof copies at work, an unknown quantity, that once lit soars and explodes into a moment of pure fiery, glittery elation. The Europa editions are European translations, mostly Italian, that provide many interesting and obscure books...— Sep 26 2013![]()
I Hadn’t Understood follows a lawyer named Vincenzo Malinconico who lives in Naples and has an ex-wife, two children, and a client affiliated with the mafia. He serves as the story’s self-identified “unreliable narrator,” and the events of his life are recounted...— Jun 27 2013![]()
Cocky and self-confident on the surface, Neapolitan attorney Vincenzo Malenconico is a personal failure by most objective standards. His psychologist wife has left him, his sometimes troubled kids have their own lives and don’t want his “help,” and he lives in a lonely...— May 15 2012![]()
Vincenzo Malinconico (whose surname means melancholy), the protagonist of this rambling, comic novel, is a highly intelligent, introspective 42-year-old Neapolitan slacker attorney who avoids working to the extent possible (but to his credit shows up and makes an effort...— Mar 23 2012![]()
Vincenzo is 42, and his life is unraveling. He’s an unsuccessful counselor with a failed marriage (to Nives, a psychologist) and two adolescent children he doesn’t understand. But then things begin to happen. He has an opportunity to defend a member of the Mafia, Mimmo 'o...— Mar 23 2012![]()
Meet Vincenzo Malinconico, “master of the improvisational jazz of complications” (as in creating, rather than controlling, them). He’s sleeping with his ex-wife, has two kids he barely communicates with, a law practice set on low simmer, and a tendency toward digressions.— Mar 15 2012
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