Mercurio

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An Intermediate to Advanced Reader in Italian Language and Culture

Andrea Fedi and Paolo Fasoli

View Inside Format: Paper
Price: $72.00
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The name Mercury, the Messenger of the Gods, has been used for centuries by European chroniclers and gazetteers in the titles of periodicals that have featured the latest news reports, anecdotes, short stories, and satires. This engaging book, an intermediate-level Italian text, offers an up-to-date and varied portrait of Italy’s language, culture, and society by presenting lively excerpts from its literature, news reports, comic books, film reviews, music lyrics, sociological surveys, and more.

Every chapter in the book has a theme that is discussed from multiple points of view. The centerpiece of each chapter is a recent work of fiction, which interacts with other literary or sociocultural accounts (sometimes from English-language media outside Italy) to convey a meaningful representation of today’s multifaceted Italy. The book also includes numerous exercises on grammar and comprehension.

Themes include:
-- Italian emigration to North and South America;
-- Italy’s fascination with bicycles;
-- new thoughts about houses and living spaces;
-- Italian cities.

ANDREA FEDI is associate professor of Italian at the State University of New York, Stony Brook.

PAOLO FASOLI is associate professor of Italian at the City University of New York, Hunter campus.

"An ambitious, adventurous, and unique book that gives intermediate-level students of Italian language and culture an exposure to new texts, authors, and ideas about contemporary Italian life and culture."—David Ward, Wellesley College

"I look forward to teaching with this book. The readings are truly diversified, the subjects extremely relevant, the approach up-to-date, and the exercises creative and interesting."—Lori Repetti, State University of New York, Stony Brook

"With the publication of Mercurio. Yale University Press has added yet another fresh, innovative text to its prestigious Language Series collection. . . . What is astounding and entirely engaging about Mercurio is the variety of reading materials, extensively researched by the authors, that not only correspond to the chapter topic but also provide a relevant flow of cultural information from one selection to the next within each particular topic. . . . Mercurio is an ambitious, motivating, and insightful text that fills the need for an up-to-date college level Italian reader."—NECTFL Review
ISBN: 9780300104004
Publication Date: November 10, 2004
416 pages, 8 x 10
147 b/w illus. + 10 maps
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