Curiously, it is Italy that acts as a catalyst, allowing the characters to realize the illusory nature of their dilemmas. In all three, Spencer concerns herself with the lives of Americans who, for a variety of reasons, find themselves in Italy, caught in the web of their own personal tribulations and the fantasy/reality of the Italian experience. The three selected pieces of short fiction have been filtered through Italian light, especially the magical light of that first summer, the summer of 1949. Spencer tells of the magical effect that her experiences in Italy have had on her artistic vision. One of the assets of the Penguin series is the inclusion of an introduction that, if written by the author, adds special contextual meaning to what is to follow. It was during a winter in Montreal that a title story was written. Spencer, whose origins are small-town American south, lived in Montreal for a number of years. The Light in the Piazza brings together three of Elizabeth Spencer's impressive shoner works, two of which were published first in the 1960s. CIPĪnother in the Penguin Short Fiction series.
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