Long hailed as a seminal work of modernism in the tradition of Joyce and Kafka, and now available in a supple new English translation, Italo Svevo's charming and splendidly idiosyncratic novel conducts readers deep into one hilariously hyperactive and endlessly self-deluding mind. The mind in question belongs to Zeno Cosini, a neurotic Italian businessman who is writing his confessions at the behest of his psychiatrist. Here are Zeno's interminable attempts to quit smoking, his courtship of the beautiful yet unresponsive Ada, his unexpectedand unexpectedly happymarriage to Ada's homely sister Augusta, and his affair with a shrill-voiced aspiring singer. Relating these misadventures with wry wit and a perspicacity at once unblinking and compassionate,Zeno's Conscienceis a miracle of psychological realism.

Italo Svevo, whose real name was Ettore Schmitz, was born in Trieste in 1861. He was educated in Trieste and in a commercial school in Germany and returned to his birthplace to begin a business career that he pursued successfully until his death. He published three novels (at his own expense): <b>Una vita</b><i> </i>(1892; English translation: <b>A Life</b>), <b>Senilità</b><i> </i>(1898; English translation: <b>Emilio’s Carnival</b>;<i> </i>also translated under the title <b>As a Man Grows Older</b>), and <b>La coscienza di Zeno</b> (1923; English translation: <b>Zeno’s Conscience</b>;<i> </i>also translated under the title <b>Confessions of Zeno</b>). After his first two novels were ignored, Svevo considered giving up writing and devoting