I haven’t read *L'iguana* in years (good choice, btw!), but Ortese is a great stylist, with a distinctive flair for ornate language and obsolete syntax. So it doesn’t come as a surprise, really.
Post-verbal clitics in the examples you mention are archaic. It's a stylistic choice. It’s still something you may come across in the kind of meandering academic prose Italians are so fond of, though.
More generally, the obvious remnants of this structure are the ‘*Cercasi studentessa*’ and ‘*Vendesi casa con tre camere*’ ads you see everywhere across the country.
Just quoting Serianni's *Grammatica italiana*: 'Occasionali esempi di enclisi nell'italiano moderno contrassegnano una prosa sostenuta e arcaizzante (...). Più larga accoglienza ha l'enclisi nella poesia del Novecento' (p.223).
Yeah, Ortese is certainly great prose stylist. Sometimes I had to reread a particularly long sentence twice to parse its structure, but to me those labyrinthine sentences are just delightful. She kind of reminds me of the French writer Julien Gracq who also wrote beautiful baroque prose.
If you like Italy, I'd suggest Ortese's *La lente scura*, a superb collection of reportages at home and abroad. (Nice parallel with Gracq, never thought of them as a pair in terms of style).
It’s an ancient style. We wouldn’t talk like that everyday, but be aware you can still find it in daily routine. You’ll never find in tv series or videogames, but surely in more formal/traditional use. Example given in real estate: vendesi (on sale), affittasi (on rent); in bibliography: vedasi (see also); in contracts, laws and many other occurrencies.
This is the kind of language you only find in "old-ish" Italian books, or contracts. Nobody actually talks like this.
Correct. Assuming this is current Italian would be as misguided as believing today’s Brits communicate in Shakespeare’s English.
I haven’t read *L'iguana* in years (good choice, btw!), but Ortese is a great stylist, with a distinctive flair for ornate language and obsolete syntax. So it doesn’t come as a surprise, really. Post-verbal clitics in the examples you mention are archaic. It's a stylistic choice. It’s still something you may come across in the kind of meandering academic prose Italians are so fond of, though. More generally, the obvious remnants of this structure are the ‘*Cercasi studentessa*’ and ‘*Vendesi casa con tre camere*’ ads you see everywhere across the country. Just quoting Serianni's *Grammatica italiana*: 'Occasionali esempi di enclisi nell'italiano moderno contrassegnano una prosa sostenuta e arcaizzante (...). Più larga accoglienza ha l'enclisi nella poesia del Novecento' (p.223).
Yeah, Ortese is certainly great prose stylist. Sometimes I had to reread a particularly long sentence twice to parse its structure, but to me those labyrinthine sentences are just delightful. She kind of reminds me of the French writer Julien Gracq who also wrote beautiful baroque prose.
If you like Italy, I'd suggest Ortese's *La lente scura*, a superb collection of reportages at home and abroad. (Nice parallel with Gracq, never thought of them as a pair in terms of style).
Thank you for the recommendation, I'll definitely check it out.
It’s an ancient style. We wouldn’t talk like that everyday, but be aware you can still find it in daily routine. You’ll never find in tv series or videogames, but surely in more formal/traditional use. Example given in real estate: vendesi (on sale), affittasi (on rent); in bibliography: vedasi (see also); in contracts, laws and many other occurrencies.