Summary of Family Lexicon
“Family Lexicon” is a biographical portrait of Italian writer and activist Natalia Ginzburg’s family life in Turin during the years 1920-1950. The book focuses on her father, Giuseppe Levi, a renowned scientist, and her marriage to anti-fascist activist Leone Ginzburg, who was murdered by the Nazis in 1944.
Reasons to read Family Lexicon
“Family Lexicon” offers a poignant account of the daily life of an Italian family with Jewish roots before, during, and after the Second World War. It is not plot-driven, but rather a chronicle of the day-to-day events, memories, and traditions of an intellectual family during the Mussolini regime. Natalia Ginzburg was a leading figure in post-war Italian literature. She won the Premio Strega in 1963 for “Family Lexicon” and the Premio Bagutta in 1984 for her novel “The Manzoni Family”. “Family Lexicon” was also published in English as “Family Sayings” and as “The Things We Used to Say”.
Setting: Turin, Pizzoli (Abruzzo), Rome (Italy)
Original title: Lessico famigliare
Year of publication: 1963
Nr of pages: 224
