Ital Svev's novel takes the reader into the depths of a mind that is hilariously hyperactive and endlessly self-deceptive. Zeno Cosini, a neurotic Italian businessman, writes down his memoirs at the request of his psychiatrist, introducing the reader to, among other things, endless attempts to quit smoking, courtship of the beautiful but indifferent Ada, an unexpectedly happy marriage with her inconspicuous sister Augusta, an affair with a singer at the beginning of her career and the figure of her father, and finally: the war from the perspective of a civilian on the front line. Svevo writes with ironical wit and insight, and his novel is a masterpiece of psychological realism.
Writer and publicist born in Trieste into a Jewish family. His first novel One thing life was published in 1892, and the next one, Starość, six years later. Discouraged by the initial lack of success, Svevo remained silent for a quarter of a century – only in 1923, at the urging of James Joyce, did he publish the novel Zeno Cosiniwhich brought him worldwide fame.
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The book is published in a series in which we recall classic works of world literature that are somewhat forgotten or unknown in Poland.