I have very strict rules in my head that seem to me to be the way things should sound.

I have very strict rules in my head that seem to me to be the way things should sound.

It's one of the hardest things to translate anything that's not standard.

To have the translator be a figure in the book's presentation seems like a big thing, especially for a book that's really popular.

One naturally identifies to some extent with an "I" female narrator going through something that you recognize whether you've gone through it or not.

The Neapolitan novels have a lot of references to things outside, to things of the world, to culture, politics, the city of Naples. People have mentioned that Naples is like a character in the novels.

Primo Levi's - I mean, he's a very different kind of writer. He's a much more formal writer. He's a much more -almost detached. I mean, I wouldn't really say that he's detached ultimately. But he does write as a scientist, and so he describes things very - in great detail, very carefully.