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Family Lexicon

Family Lexicon
AuthorNatalia Ginzburg
Original titleLessico famigliare
LanguageItalian
GenreAutobiographical novel
PublisherEinaudi
Publication date1963
Publication placeItaly
Pages218 (Italian, 1st ed.)[1]

Family Lexicon (Italian: Lessico famigliare) is a novel by the Italian author Natalia Ginzburg, first published in 1963. The book, which has also been published in English under the titles Family Sayings and The Things We Used to Say, is a semi-biographical description of aspects of the daily life of her family, dominated by her father, the renowned histologist Giuseppe Levi. It won the Strega Prize in 1963.

Plot

The Ginzburg's family home in Pizzoli

The book is both an ironic and affectionate chronicle of life in the period 1920–1950, portrayed in terms of habits, behavior and, above all, linguistic communications, from which the book takes its title. People and events are brought to life by what they do and what they say. In addition to family members, including her mother, father, brothers and sisters, the book also describes many friends and acquaintances.

The novel covers the period of fascism in Italy and the early post-war years. It describes the death in custody of her husband Leone Ginzburg, a noted anti-fascist, and the persecution of Jews in Italy during the rule of Benito Mussolini. It ends with the suicide of the writer Cesare Pavese in 1950 and disillusionment at the failure to achieve the aims of the war-time resistance movement.

Publication history

Lessico famigliare was first published in Italy in 1963 by Giulio Einaudi Editore.[1][2] It was then translated into English in 1967 by D. M. Low under the title Family Sayings, followed by an edited and revised translation in 1985.[3][4] The first edition was published by E. P. Dutton in the United States and Hogarth Press in the United Kingdom.[3][5] It was retranslated by Judith Woolf for Arcade Publishing in 1999 under the title The Things We Used To Say,[6] and by Jenny McPhee in 2017 for the NYRB Classics series as Family Lexicon.[7]

Reception

Family Lexicon won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious in Italian literature, in 1963.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b Romano, Giorgio (June 1963). "Lessico famigliare". La Rassegna Mensile di Israel. 29 (6). Unione delle Comunitá Ebraiche Italiane: 277–278. ISSN 0033-9792. JSTOR 41281881. Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
  2. ^ Pacifici, Sergio (Winter 1964). "Reviewed Work: Lessico famigliare by Natalia Ginzburg". Books Abroad. 38 (1). University of Oklahoma: 61–62. ISSN 0006-7431. JSTOR 40118457. Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
  3. ^ a b Washburn, Beatrice (January 29, 1967). "The Intimacy of Family Life Revisited". Miami Herald. p. 200. Retrieved April 21, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Sartarelli, Stephen (January 20, 1985). "A prize-winning 'real-life' novel from Italy". The Philadelphia Inquirer. pp. L.2. ProQuest 1823050416. Retrieved April 21, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Rosselli, John (February 10, 1967). "A vital nucleus". The Guardian. p. 7. Retrieved April 21, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Bernstein, Richard (August 4, 1999). "Telling the Bigger Story With the Small Details". The New York Times. p. E10. ISSN 0362-4331. ProQuest 431230313.
  7. ^ West, Adrian Nathan (July 7, 2017). "Family Lexicon". The Times Literary Supplement. No. 5962. p. 34. ISSN 0307-661X. ProQuest 1927859328, Gale A634972583. Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
  8. ^ "Research Guides: Italian Premio Strega Collection in the Library of Congress: Complete List Premio Strega Awards 1947–Present". Research Guides at Library of Congress. October 15, 2019. Retrieved April 21, 2026.

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