Narrative voice, character speech, motif — tools for reading rather than verdicts.
Practise this list
From these 42 words, as many per round as you like — up to all of them: first what is due today, then new ones. First you choose, then you fill the gap, then you write it yourself. Mistakes come back again shortly.
More about this list
The thirty-seventh entry is l’edizione critica, and its own example sentence hides the word that catches English readers: l’edizione critica riporta tutte le lezioni. La lezione is the classroom word, the lesson, the class, the hour of teaching — and in textual scholarship it is something else altogether. It is what a particular manuscript actually says at a particular point, one of the competing forms an editor has to choose between and then record at the foot of the page. English calls that « a reading »: an editor prints one reading and puts the rest in the apparatus. So both languages have taken a common word and given it a second, technical life, and they did not take the same word. « Lesson » stays in the classroom and in church and never means a variant; and « reading » carried back into Italian gives la lettura, which is the act of reading, or an interpretation, but never the wording of one witness. The trap is a quiet one: tutte le lezioni rendered as all the lessons makes a sort of sense, and says nothing true.
il narratore in prima personathe first-person narratorNoun (m)C2
Il narratore in prima persona sa meno del lettore.The first-person narrator knows less than the reader does.
il narratore onniscientethe omniscient narratorNoun (m)C2
Il narratore onnisciente entra nella testa di tutti.The omniscient narrator gets inside everybody’s head.
il narratore inaffidabilethe unreliable narratorNoun (m)C2
Il narratore inaffidabile racconta ciò che gli conviene.The unreliable narrator tells whatever suits him.
il discorso indiretto liberofree indirect styleNoun (m)C2
Il discorso indiretto libero mescola la voce del personaggio e quella del narratore.Free indirect style mixes the character’s voice with the narrator’s.
il monologo interiorethe interior monologueNoun (m)C2
Il monologo interiore segue il pensiero senza ordinarlo.The interior monologue follows thought without putting it in order.
il punto di vistathe point of viewNoun (m)C2
Il punto di vista resta quello della bambina.The point of view stays that of the little girl.
il tempo del raccontonarrating timeNoun (m)C2
Il tempo del racconto si misura in pagine.Narrating time is measured in pages.
il tempo della storianarrated timeNoun (m)C2
Il tempo della storia copre un intero secolo.Narrated time covers a whole century.
l’antefattothe backstoryNoun (m)C2
L’antefatto occupa le prime pagine.The backstory takes up the first few pages.
il punto di non ritornothe point of no returnNoun (m)C2
Dopo il punto di non ritorno la protagonista non può più tacere.After the point of no return the heroine can no longer keep quiet.
il finale irrisoltothe unresolved endingNoun (m)C2
Il finale irrisolto lascia al lettore l’ultima parola.The unresolved ending leaves the last word to the reader.
il motivo narrativothe motifNoun (m)C2
Il motivo narrativo della porta chiusa torna in ogni capitolo.The motif of the locked door comes back in every chapter.
il motivo conduttorethe leitmotifNoun (m)C2
Il motivo conduttore accompagna sempre la stessa figura.The leitmotif always accompanies the same figure.
il simbolo letterariothe literary symbolNoun (m)C2
Il simbolo letterario non si spiega in una riga.The literary symbol cannot be explained in one line.
il campo metaforicothe field of imageryNoun (m)C2
Il campo metaforico del testo viene dal mare.The field of imagery in the text comes from the sea.
il livello stilisticothe register of a textNoun (m)C2
Il livello stilistico si abbassa nei dialoghi.The register of a text drops in the dialogue.
il pastichethe pasticheNoun (m)C2
Il pastiche imita uno stile senza deriderlo.The pastiche imitates a style without mocking it.
il canone letterariothe literary canonNoun (m)C2
Il canone letterario cambia più lentamente del gusto.The literary canon changes more slowly than taste does.
il lettore implicitothe implied readerNoun (m)C2
Il lettore implicito conosce già il genere.The implied reader already knows the genre.
lo schema rimicothe rhyme schemeNoun (m)C2
Lo schema rimico si ripete in ogni quartina.The rhyme scheme repeats in every quatrain.
l’io liricothe lyric INoun (m)C2
L’io lirico non coincide con chi scrive.The lyric I does not coincide with the person writing.
il paratestothe paratextNoun (m)C2
Il paratesto comprende il titolo e la prefazione.The paratext takes in the title and the preface.
