"Mio padre voleva che il suo primo figlio fosse un poeta" (My father wanted his first son to become a poet). These are the opening words of "Memoria e vita" (Of Memory and Life) first published in Il viaggo (1942), an essay Corrado Alvaro wrote in 1942 to commemorate his deceased parent and to reflect on his own career. By then, he--his father's firstborn--was more than a poet. He was a successful journalist who regularly contributed to respected Italian newspapers, such as Il Mondo, La Stampa, and Il Corriere della Sera, and served on the editorial board of other periodicals. In addition, he had published short stories, novellas, novels, and several travel books. By middle age--he was forty-seven when he wrote "Memoria e vita"--Alvaro had an established reputation in Italy as a significant writer. His second novel, Vent'anni (Twenty Years, 1930), and his first three collections of short stories, L'amata...