New York. 1949. New Directions. 1st of this Edition. Previous Owner's Name & Bookplate in Front, Otherwise Very Good. No Dustjacket. Translated from the Italian by Beryl de Zoete. Introduction by Stanislaus Joyce. Essay on Svevo by Edouard Rodtiti. 245 pages. hardcover. keywords: Europe Italy Literature Italy Translated World Literature. DESCRIPTION - AS A MAN GROWS OLDER (Senilita) was Svevo's second novel. When first published in 1898 it attracted little attention, but many years later James Joyce and others declared that it was Svevo's best, most subtle, and most poetic creation. The story is simple. Emilio, a bachelor in Trieste with literary leanings, becomes infatuated with Angiolina, a beautiful but commonplace and worthless girl whom he comes to believe is a veritable Beatrice. He adorns her with all the qualities of the great heroines of literature; but she is gradually dragging him down to her own shoddy level. With the death of his spinster sister Amalia, he realises how shabby his selfish love has been, and abandons Angiolina. He returns to a life of dreams and vague ambitions in which he blends the images of Amalia and Angiolina-the austere qualities of the spinster and the beauty of the tart. But though the plot is simple the development of it is subtle and fascinating. Svevo's revelations of the intricate maneuvering of Emilio's mind as his growing passion for Angiolina-half false idealism and half pure sensuality -plays havoc with his emotions is the work of an artist with unusual psychological insight. inventory #9022