Why a Booktrail?
Zeno Consini is a neurotic business man obsessed by his own repeated failures to give up smoking. This is his story.
Confessions of Zeno
What you need to know before your trail
A neurotic Italian businessman obsessed by his own hypochondria, Zeno Cosini recounts his early years to his psychoanalyst Dr S as a form of therapy. With a cigarette clutched permanently between his fingers, he explores the important themes of his life: his love of smoking, his relationship with his parents, his marriage. Structured as a series of conversations with his psychoanalyst, Zeno was an innovation in its time, and remains a curious and intriguing delight.
Locations
Reset- Italy - Trieste
- A: Istituto Comprensivo Italo Svevo
- B: museo svevo
- C: James Joyce Passage
Travel Guide
Trieste
This book might be set in Trieste it is but a mere backdrop to the story of a man looking inwardly at himself in order to find out why he smokes as much as he does and why he finds it so hard to stop.
The chapters in the book read like sessions as he does indeed speak to his psychiatrist and that’s how the reader comes to see the problems of Zeno’s life come to the fore.
Some nuggets of inspiration:
“Complete freedom consists of being able to do what you like, provided you also do something you like less.”
“You see things less clearly when you open your eyes too wide. ”
In 1907 novelist James Joyce was engaged as Svevo’s English tutor in Trieste, and in the process they developed a friendship. When Joyce read Svevo’s novel La coscienza di Zeno (Confessions of Zeno), he was so impressed with it that he encouraged the writer to publish it, and later helped to promote it. The city boats both places familiar to both authors and these should be explored using the map above. James Joyce lived in the city for many years and wrote here himself.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Confessions of Zeno
Destination : Trieste Author/Guide: Italo Svevo Departure Time: 1890s
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