Franco Ferrucci published his first novel, L'anatra nel cortile (The Duck in the Courtyard) in 1971. Yet even in his native Italy, Ferrucci was better known for his literary criticism and essays than his novels until the late 1980s. As Furio Colombo notes in the 20 September 1986 La Stampa, Ferrucci "è stato subito riconosciuto come il miglior saggista letterario della sua generazione" (was quickly identified as the best literary critic of his generation). His recognition as a novelist surged forward with Umberto Eco's praise of Ferrucci's ambitious and original novel Il mondo creato (1986; translated as The Life of God (as Told by Himself), 1996). This work was presented at the prestigious Frankfurt Book Fair in 1988, resulting in the republication of it as well as Ferrucci's earlier novels and essays, sometimes in paperback editions, such as the 1991 Mondadori's Oscar edition of L'assedio e il ritorno (The Seige and the Return, 1974). Regarding Ferrucci's...