Cesare Pavese's Long Journey

“It seems appropriate that Bordighera Press would choose to publish this study on Pavese on the heals of bringing back in print Rimanelli’s controversial book Il mestiere del furbo after over fifty years. Eugenio Ragni’s observations in his introductory remarks to the recent re-release of Il mestiere del furbo strike us as applicable to Rimanelli’s book-length study on Pavese. Ragni refers to Il mestiere del furbo as an example of intellectual independence and whose analysis is still critically valid after so many years. The same holds true for Rimanelli’s study of Pavese, as does a similar careful reading of the texts combined with a balanced philological and narratological approach. Moreover, a distinguishing feature of both Il mestiere del furbo and Cesare Pavese’s Long Journey: A Critical-Analytical Study, particularly from other criticism in the 1950s and early 1960s, are Rimanelli’s enlightened references to foreign works and authors. Finally, the publication of this book-length study of Pavese brings to light an important chapter of Rimanelli’s own life journey. It highlights a strong sense of tradition, a loyalty to place and to one’s roots, and the idea of America as a metaphor for one’s literary substance, one’s myth, and one’s destiny.”

—Mark Pietralunga, from the “Introduction”