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Kaputt (novel)

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Kaputt
Book cover for Kaputt (1946 English language edition)
AuthorCurzio Malaparte
TranslatorCesare Foligno
LanguageItalian
PublisherEditore Casella
Publication date
1944
Publication placeItaly
Published in English
1946
Pages645

Kaputt is a 1944 autobiographical novel by the Italian writer Curzio Malaparte.

Plot

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The book was inspired by Malaparte's experiences as a war correspondent at the Eastern Front of World War II. It presents itself as Malaparte's personal witness account of intense violence and cruelty, but the content is largely fictional.[1]

Reception

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The book was an international success. Already at the publication, several European critics received the book's narrator as a fictionalised author persona, and the book as an attempt from Malaparte to position himself after Italy's defeat and his own past as a fascist sympathiser.[1] When the English translation was published in 1946, Kirkus Reviews received it as a true account and called it "a subtly brilliant piece of writing" where Malaparte is "whipping the sensibilities to a sharp awareness of the degradation of Europe, of the utter collapse of morality, integrity, and so on".[2]

Translations

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The book was translated into Lithuanian by Tomas Venclova [3]


References

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  1. ^ a b Hope, William (2000). Curzio Malaparte: The Narrative Contract Strained. Market Harborough: Troubador. pp. 82–86. ISBN 1-899293-221.
  2. ^ "Kaputt". Kirkus Reviews. 1 November 1946. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  3. ^ "Kaput - Curcio Molaparte; Tomas Venclova; | Tyto Alba". tytoalba.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 2024-01-10.

Further reading

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