MixedThe Wall Street Journal[Ann Goldstein\'s] new version of Arturo’s Island...is not always an improvement on [the 1959 version by Isabel] Quigly’s. It is literal—that is, word-for-word accurate—and keeps to the Italian sentence structure throughout, resulting in often stilted English ... Despite such objections, I am pleased that Arturo’s Island is having a second life, as, no doubt, the novel will garner its neglected author the new readers she deserves ... I must confess that I am no longer as enthralled as I once was. I am instead struck by its heavy-handed treatment of misogyny, homophobia and jealousy. In addition, and perhaps due in part to Ms. Goldstein’s overly literal translation, Morante’s writing seems often bombastic and repetitive. Yet there are marvelous exceptions[.]
