Anna Maria Ortese’s first novel,
L’iguana[
The Iguana], is her third major publication and the one that best represents her new artistic maturity after the magic realism of her literary debut,
Angelici dolori[
Angelic Pains] (1937), and the neorealism of her second short story collection,
Il mare non bagna Napoli[
The Bay is not Naples] (1953). Although some of the short stories in her Neapolitan reportage, particularly “Un paio di occhiali” [
A Pair of Glasses] and “Interno famigliare” [
“Family Interior”], had given Ortese much visibility and appreciation among readers, other ones, such as “Il silenzio della ragione” [
The Silence of Reason], where she openly criticized several Neapolitans leftist intellectuals who had been her friends, inspired considerable…
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Citation: Seno, Cosetta. "L'iguana". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 December 2018 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=38883, accessed 24 April 2024.]
