This second volume of "Italian Short Stories," featuring parallel translations, aims—like the first volume—to illustrate the richness and diversity of twentieth-century Italian literature. In this volume, however, the language is somewhat more sophisticated and the translations less literal. Well-known authors such as Moravia and Calvino, familiar to British and American readers, are featured again, along with Italo Svevo, Comisso, Vittorini, Rigoni-Stern, Fenoglio, and Pasolini, thus ensuring representation of both Roman and provincial literature. In addition, lesser-known words and dialect expressions in the Italian text are discussed.