Tosca, the cat lady by Gina Lagorio and translated by Martha King

This is poetry from Italy.

Tosca, the cat lady by Gina Lagorio translated by Martha King is published by Bordighera Press. This is a Book originally written in Italian. This was published in 2009.0 and has the ISBN of 9.781599540023E12.

Tosca, the cat lady, by Gina Lagorio and translated by Martha King, sounds intimate, eccentric, and character-driven from the title alone. Lagorio is known more broadly as an Italian writer of fiction and cultural memory, and this book’s presence in a poetry library suggests a literary work crossing genre boundaries or carrying lyric prose force. Tosca evokes opera, drama, and Italian cultural inheritance; “the cat lady” brings that grandeur down to the domestic and peculiar. King’s translation gives English readers access to that tonal mixture. I would read this book for its character, its odd tenderness, and its willingness to let the ordinary brush against the theatrical. A cat lady named Tosca is already a stage. The question is what kind of aria everyday life can still produce.

If you’d like to see international poetry continue and gain traction, consider requesting this work from your local library, or purchasing it from places like Open Books (a poetry only bookstore), Asterism Books (an independent press distributor), or bookshop.org to connect you with your local bookstores.

Check out more of the always in-progress translated poetry index here.