Zeno's Conscience

Some novels are not only unique but also inimitable and I’m glad to say that Zeno's Conscience belongs to this extraordinary class of books. I felt a shudder run through me at the vision of all that acid, but immediately afterwards I had a somewhat happier vision of life: I didn’t like lemons, but if......more

A Dead Honest Liar Now Sunday arrived. I, who work so little, retained always a great respect for the holiday, which divides life into brief periods, making it more tolerable. On his psychiatrist’s request, Zeno Cosini, a businessman from Trieste, describes six episodes in his life, self-analysing hi......more

Zeno is a good-hearted comic anti-hero. Everything works against him and just about everything he does to improve himself makes things worse. “I have, and have always had, a strong impulse to become better; this is perhaps my greatest misfortune.” We start with a full chapter about him trying to qui......more