Two days before his death, Vitaliano Brancati wrote a note with instructions for the publication of his unfinished novel, Paolo il caldo (Hot-Blooded Paolo, 1955); in the note he also explained to his readers the development of the last two, unwritten chapters. The circumstances surrounding the publication of Paolo il caldo, which included an introduction by Alberto Moravia, undoubtedly increased interest in this last work of an author already renowned as a writer of novels, plays, short stories, and screenplays. The posthumous publication of other writings and two waves of critical interest--in the 1970s and then in the late 1980s through the 1990s--have established Brancati as a significant figure in mid-twentieth-century Italian culture, although for much of his audience he remains best known as a writer of a series of none-too-profound social satires. Nonetheless, the renewed attention has also culminated in new editions of all his works, with the...