All the Errors — Giorgio Manganelli

Until the appearance of All the Errors in 1990, Giorgio Manganelli's works had been translated into every major Western language except English: Henry Martin's fluid translation redresses the oversight of this eloquent, meticulous Italian master, presenting a book of Manganelli's distinctively original shorter fictions. These are seven narratives of metaphysical exploration. One story is the valedictory monologue of a soul on the verge of being born; another tells of a labyrinth that enters itself, seeking to explain its own pathways; in still another, a man and a woman offer mirroring explanations of why they cannot love each other. These are tales of solitude, yet a solitude touched with hope, and they share an allegiance to the themes of Sartre, Camus, Kafka, and Calvino.