The Turin born Guido Gozzano was the first and finest representative of the Crepuscolari, the poets of the Twilight. Before his tragically early death from consumption at the age of 35 he produced two short volumes of verse, La via del rifugio and I colloqui, which quickly became renown for their quietly perfect evocations of nature, melancholy, tenderness and nostalgia.
 
But unknown to most English speakers, Gozzano also wrote short stories, Contes Cruels influenced by Poe and Maupassant, and aesthetic prose nightmares, which display the same delicate crepuscular style and sense of tragic absurdism.
 
Within the pages of Alcina and Other Stories, the reader will find “The Real Face,” the bizarre fate of a promising young artist whose works grow too close to nature; “A Romantic Story,” a Gothic tragedy; and “The Soul of the Instrument,” a Symbolist fairy tale after the manner of Lorrain and Wilde; along with other morbid and fantastic pieces.
 
An exquisite item for those interested in Italian poets of the early 20th century and the various literary movements which bloomed in that country in the years following the fin de siècle.