Marella Feltrin-Morris (World Languages, Literatures and Cultures) publishes translation of a short story by Luigi Pirandello

By Tina Bennett, December 12, 2022

Marella Feltrin-Morris (World Languages, Literatures and Cultures) has published the first English translation of "L'illlustre estinto" ("The Illustrious Deceased," 1909), a short story by Luigi Pirandello, (1867-1936), in Stories for a Year, eds. Lisa Sa

On his deathbed, Costanzo Ramberti, a renowned politician, imagines his funeral. The contained but dignified ceremony that he pictures in his mind, however, turns out to be quite different as, after his death, preparations for his funeral result in one embarrassing situation after another: the back of his tailcoat needs to be ripped for the corpse’s stiff arms to fit into the sleeves, and during the viewing, the corpse emits a horrible gurgling sound as a result of post-mortem digestion. The series of unfortunate circumstances culminates with the accidental switching of Ramberti’s corpse with that of a virtually unknown deceased, who, as a result, is honored with a sumptuous ceremony while Ramberti ends up being buried hastily in the middle of the night.   

To date, eighteen of Feltrin-Morris's translations of Luigi Pirandello's short stories have appeared in the Stories for a Year Digital Edition: 

L'illustre estinto

La toccatina

L'avemaria di Bobbio 

Notte

Lontano

La fede

Mondo di carta

ll sonno del vecchio

Alla zappa! 

Il bottone della palandrana

Dal naso al cielo

Donna Mimma

In corpore vili

Leviamoci questo pensiero

Soffio

C'è qualcuno che ride

La ricca

Stefano Giogli, uno e due