From Nose to Sky (Dal naso al cielo, 1925)

This eighth Collection of fifteen stories appeared with the title From Nose to Sky in the 1925 edition published by Bemporad.

As customary, many of these stories were previously published in other collected volumes: “From Nose to Sky” (“Dal naso al cielo”) and “Yesterday and Today” (“Jeri e oggi”) in the The Carnival of the Dead (Il carnevale dei morti), with Battistelli in Florence, in 1919; while “Marital Duties” (“Certi obblighi”), “Ciàula Discovers the Moon” (“Ciàula scopre la luna”), “Who Pays the Price” (“Chi la paga”), “The Blessing” (“Benedizione”), “Moon Fever” (“Male di luna,” originally titled “Quintadecima”), “The Starling and the Angel One-Hundred-and-One” (“Lo storno e l’Angelo Centuno”), “Superior stabat lupus,” “When in Doubt” (“Nel dubbio”), “The Wreath” (“La corona”), “In the Whirlpool” (“Nel gorgo”), and “Old Music” (“Musica vecchia”) all appeared first in the volume The Two Masks (Le due maschere) published by Quattrini in Florence (1914) and then later in a new, abridged edition titled You Laugh (Tu ridi), published in Milan by Treves in 1920.

All of these fifteen short stories had previously appeared in literary journals and magazines: “The Changeling” (“Il figlio cambiato”), titled “The Grandmothers” (“Le nonne”), in La Riviera Ligure, April 1902; “The Doubt” (“Il dubbio”), in Il ventesimo, December 23, 1906; “From Nose to Sky,” in Il Marzocco, April 7, 1907; “The Wreath” (“La corona”), in L’illustrazione italiana, May 12, 1907; and “Old Music” in Natura ed arte, on February 1, 1910. Seven short stories appeared in the Corriere della Sera: “Blessing,” February 5, 1910; “The Starling and the Angel One-Hundred-and-One”, September 4, 1910; “Marital Duties,” March 11, 1912; “Who Pays the Price,” August 25, 1912; “Ciàula Discovers the Moon,” on December 29, 1912; “Moon Fever,” titled “Quintadecima,” September 22, 1913; “Escape” (“Fuga”), August 23, 1923. The tale “Superior stabat lupus” appeared in La lettura in May 1912; “In the Whirlpool” (“Nel gorgo”), in Aprutium, July/August, 1913; and “Yesterday and Today” in Il Messaggero della Domenica, June 8, 1919.

The story “The Changeling” inspired The Fable of the Changeling Son (La favola del figlio cambiato), the 1934 verse play that Pirandello wrote as the libretto for the composer Gian Francesco Malipiero.

“Marital Duties,” together with “The Truth” from the Collection The Lonely Man (L’uomo solo), were adapted into a two-act comedy staged in 1917 with the title Cap and Bells (Il berretto a sonagli). The tale “The Starling and the Angel One-Hundred-and-One” served as source material for the unfinished theatrical “myth” The Mountain Giants (I giganti della montagna), which was staged posthumously in 1937.

The fifteen short stories contained in the Collection From Nose to Sky are:

“From Nose to Sky” (“Dal naso al cielo”)
‘Escape” (“Fuga”)
“Marital Duties” (“Certi obblighi”)
“Ciàula Disocvers the Moon” (“Ciàula scopre la luna”)
“Who Pays the Price” (“Chi la paga”)
“Blessing” (“Benedizione”)
“Moon Fever” (“Male di luna”)
“The Changeling” (“Il figlio cambiato”)
“The Starling and the Angel One-Hundred-and-One” (“Lo storno e l’Angelo Centuno”)
“Superior stabat lupus”
“When in Doubt” (“Nel dubbio”)
“The Wreath” (“La corona”)
“Yesterday and Today” (Jeri e oggi”)
“In the Whirlpool” (“Nel gorgo”)
“Old Music” (“Musica vecchia”)