Zeno s COM PLETE

CLASSICS

Conscience UNABRIDGED

ITALO SVEVO
Read by Sean Barrett

Known for inspiring James Joyce’s Leopold Bloom in Ulysses, Zeno Cosini
is the bumbling yet charming alter ego of Italo Svevo, who here lays bare
a hilarious litany of neuroticisms about his health, friendships, family
and women. Having submitted himself to Freudian psychoanalysis,
the narrator keeps a diary with the aim of conquering his addiction to
smoking. He describes his marriage to the woman he didn’t want to
marry, how he drives his business partner to despair, and how his ‘last
cigarette’ turns out to be one of many. Zeno is the classic ‘schlemiel’;
his erratic foibles, his questionable logic and his curious inclination to
self sabotage help shine a light on human behaviour in general, and
reveal the many subtle half-truths people may tell themselves in order to
defend their own actions and egos.

Sean Barrett started acting as a boy on BBC children’s television in the Total running time: 17:16:52
days before colour, when it went out live. He grew up acting in Z Cars,
View our full range of titles at n-ab.com
Armchair Theatre, Minder and Father Ted. His theatre credits include
Peter Pan at the old Scala Theatre and Noël Coward’s Suite in Three
Keys in the West End. Films include War & Peace, Dunkirk and A Cry
from the Streets. He was a member of the BBC Radio Drama Company
and has lent his voice to a variety of video games, including the Dark
Souls series. He has read titles by Samuel Beckett, Haruki Murakami,
Cormac McCarthy, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Umberto Eco,
Sheridan Le Fanu and Sir Walter Scott – all for Naxos AudioBooks.

1 Zeno’s Conscience 1:39 22 Thus it was that I became engaged. 16:05

2 Preamble 4:34 23 Then, point-blank, he started speaking ill… 15:17
3 Smoke 18:07 24 The desire to violate Augusta belongs to the first… 12:18
4 I went to that doctor because I had been told… 19:11 25 Wife and Mistress 15:28
5 Her smile, which I so loved… 18:08 26 I remember one evening in Venice… 16:29
6 My Father’s Death 15:23 27 Enraged, I sulked in my tent… 14:44
7 One evening toward the end of March… 18:13 28 It seemed to me, too, that the genuinely sick man… 11:54
8 The long hours of waiting followed. 17:19 29 The curious thing is that I felt it necessary to… 17:33
9 Last night, on the contrary… 16:48 30 Honesty is considered first of all that which is … 14:18
10 The Story of My Marriage 15:31 31 Once awake, I was fully aware of the force… 15:53
11 I wept at my father-in-law’s grave… 13:50 32 It seemed as if I wanted to regret her leaving us. 12:32
12 It is hard to retrace the tender origins… 15:49 33 Lunch was sad. Augusta sought no explanation… 15:03
13 In a very short time the Malfenti family became… 15:00 34 There, at Carla’s side, my passion for Augusta… 14:27
14 I didn’t listen to the girl… 15:12 35 In the vestibule we found Dr Paoli… 16:07
15 A little later I was glad I had remained… 16:23 36 At my father-in-law’s, I found the party had gone… 12:17
16 Five terrible days and five terrible nights followed… 12:49 37 I resumed the long, drab speech… 17:03
17 I limped, leaving that cafe’… 14:48 38 For the first time I saw Carla’s little face exactly… 15:48
18 Together we retraced our steps… 13:07 39 To keep me company, the building’s concierge… 17:06
19 Without the slightest hesitation, I went to… 14:24 40 Specifically, at the beginning of that spring… 16:09
20 It was a bit late to turn on Guido… 18:01 41 Before falling asleep, Augusta felt the need to… 16:08
21 She looked at me, amazed and frightened. 14:49 42 I tried to speak calmly while my lips were… 18:15

1
43 The Story of a Business Partnership 15:45 57 The first time, she ran into Nilini, who had once again …13:55
44 My good fortune kept me from being ruined… 15:38 58 His character was evident in all… 13:36
45 The arrival of Carmen brought much life into… 15:03 59 On the front steps of Guido’s house… 14:01
46 My absence from the office had been provoked… 12:53 60 Thus I was late in learning of the night’s events. 16:02
47 One day, when Guido had invited me to… 15:34 61 We left the office at three and began to run… 13:11
48 It seemed to me a divine punishment… 14:44 62 But the way Ada spoke to me was a painful surprise. 12:59
49 A few days afterwards, he was overcome with… 14:43 63 Psychoanalysis 15:19
50 In Ada, too, goitre was absent… 14:40 64 In the doze to which I abandoned myself… 14:17
51 On the stroke of noon, when the train entered… 13:54 65 In the end I grew very tired of the struggle… 18:39
52 Our walk reminded me of the one we took… 17:15 66 26 June 1915 The war has overtaken me! 16:03
53 In the days that followed, Guido’s demeanour… 15:20 67 Therefore I went down that hill fairly willingly… 16:18
54 But I was reluctant to leave that room… 13:44 68 Translator’s Introduction 15:37
55 He gave up his plan, but the next day … 16:33 69 The years of the war were profoundly disruptive… 15:40
56 That evening I spoke of it with Augusta… 15:30

Translated by William Weaver

Recorded at SNK Studios, London
Produced by Neil Rosser
Edited and mastered by Sarah Butcher
Executive Producer: Genevieve Helsby
Translation © 2001 Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House Inc.
℗ 2019 Naxos AudioBooks UK Ltd. Artwork © 2019 Naxos AudioBooks UK Ltd.
This edition published by arrangement with Everyman’s Library, an imprint of The Knopf Doubleday Group,
a division of Penguin Random House LLC
Booklet and cover design: Hannah Whale, Fruition – Creative Concepts, using an image courtesy of Shutterstock
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. UNAUTHORISED PUBLIC PERFORMANCE, BROADCASTING AXND COPYING OF THIS RECORDING PROHIBITED

Total running time: 17:16:52 Catalogue no.: NA0349 ISBN: 978-1-78198-220–4

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