La Coscienza di Zeno

Literature of the time was no longer a depiction of general reality but a subjective insight into a single character This story subverts realism, thereby allowing for a discussion of the inability to accurately portray reality

Themes

Memory Memoir style; a pseudo memoir [you could call it a roman à clef] Subjective narration - the construction and presentation of the self Retrospective narration Psycholanalysis Introspection Free association - shown through non-chronological order of narrative Metanarrative - Reflection on the act of writingAlienation

Italo Svevo

"The discovery of life as being one and the same with the self. Life is in all its ambiguity and contradictory situations, the effect of will and desire"Characters resemble SvevoWriting style represents how he came from the margins of italy

Zeno

Psychosomatic illnesses Contradictory to himself Although neurotic, Zeno uses this overthinking anxiousness to help him write abouthimself Unreliable...ish narrator Antihero Comic character, irony - detatched attitude. Everyman Relatability to the average person Zeno has a guilty conscience but he is not portrayed negatively, despite his idiosyncracies Zeno is a misfit - a bit crazy

Zeno's Relationships

GiovanniAugustaZeno sees his wife as fundamentally healthy, whilst he sees himself as unhealthy Guido