LITTLE OLD WORLD, The mondo antico,) 18%), the undoubted master piece of the Italian writer, Antonio Fogazzaro, and one of the greatest novels of modern Italy, is the first of a trilogy, the other two volumes of which are mondo modern& (1901) and Santo) (1905). Known in. English as The Patriot) Old World)), Sin ner) and (The Saint,' these novels project against the background of Italian life in the sec ond half of the 19th century the spiritual prob lems of the protagonists and their offspring. In the entrancing setting of Lake Lugano amidst whose beautiful hills Fogazzaro spent the im pressionable years of his youth, 'Piccolo mondo antico' is a study of somnolent Valsolda during the eight years that preceded the expulsion of the Austrians in 1859. With a fidelity born only of accurate observation, Lombards and Venetians of every type appear in this magnifi cent evocation of those years of silent prepara tion. They speak their various northern dia lects and are set off by that rich humor so typ ical of Fogazzaro's minor characters. The stony-hearted marchesa and her train of satel lites, the lovable uncle Piero, the provincial gen try, the minions of Austrian despotism, patriots and spies, all stand forth with individual dis tinction. It is in this milieu that the main theme develops out of the conflicting ideals of husband and wife. Essentially a love match which has resulted in the young man's disin heritance, this union, through the inactivity and lack of energy of the dilettantic Franco Mai roni, a devout religious idealist and a dreamer, is fast approaching disaster. The wife, Luisa,
is a woman of strong will and moral force, filled with a sense of rectitude and justice, but lacking in religious faith. In the crisis brought about by the accidental drowning of their child, it is the husband who proves the stronger of the two. Taking consolation in his religion, he arouses himself, leaves for Piedmont to join his regiment and die for his country. The clash between the divergent ideals of and Luisa, the separation and final reconciliation are worked out with characteristic poignancy. The novel typifies the intellectual and emotional conflict so favored by Fogazzaro. As is usual with him, it is the man whose spiritual nature is the higher, and in the triumph of Franco's in tensely emotional and fervent Catholicism over Luisa's colder rationalism, we see exemplified the author's fundamental aspiration: ((To live, love, labor, suffer and ascend.° Consult Lapham, L. E., and his triology' (in The Catholic World, Nov. 1906 Jan. 1907) ; Faguet, Emile, (Fogazzaro' (in Revue des Deux Mondes, 15 May 1911); Al bertazzi, Adolfo, (It Romanzo' (Milan 1902) ; Croce, Benedetto, (La letteratura della nuova Italia> (Bari 1914-15). The English transla tion, Patriot,' is by M. Pritchard-Agnetti (New York 1906).