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Thursday, May 29, 2014

"Tosca's Cats" by Gina Lagorio (1983)





Gina Lagorio (1922 to 2005, Milan, Italy) was a very prolific an accomplished essayist, novelist, playwright and short story writer. Cats play a very central part in  "Tosca's Cats", translated by Margherita Piva, so I already am inclined to like it.  I like the story but it seems like a fragment from a larger work rather than a short story.  

As the story opens Tosca is cleaning the floor in her employer's pension. .  She calls her boss, "The Nazj" when she was not around.  There are some cats that Tosca likes, feeds and cares for.  She knows their  personalities and i enjoyed her thoughts on the cats.  A journalist who sometimes stays there invites her and her friend to the opera.  We go along to the opera and then a dinner at a nice restaurant.  

I read this story in a very high value anthology, New Italian Women, A Collection of Short Fiction,edited by Martha King.  

This anthology is published by Italica Press, a leading publisher of literary and historical works related to Italy.  Anyone interested in Italian literature and history will find their webpage very valuable.  They have an extensive offering of translated works by Italian women. 


Mel u


 

1 comment:

  1. Yes, this is an excerpt from a novel, "Tosca, The Cat Lady."

    ReplyDelete

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