New Release Collects 50 Absurdist Tales From an Italian Writer Often Compared to Kafka, Dino Buzzati

The lassitude and unease typifying ‘The Bewitched Bourgeois’ also hearken to the writings of Robert Musil and Thomas Mann. Airlessness of tone predominates, as does an intellectualism that’s at the end of its tether.

Via Wikimedia Commons
Dino Buzzati at a Milan bookstore, 1960s. Via Wikimedia Commons

As much as any label helps identify a given strain of creativity, Absurdism fits the bill in describing the life’s work of an Italian writer, Dino Buzzati (1906-1972). The term is well applied to a new compilation of Buzzati’s short fiction published by the New York Review of Books, “The Bewitched Bourgeois: Fifty Stories.” 

Have an account? Log In

To continue reading, please select:

Limited Access

Enter your email to read for FREE

Get 1 FREE article

Continue with
or
Unlimited Access

Join the Sun for a PENNY A DAY

$0.01/day for 60 days

Cancel anytime

100% ad free experience

Unlimited article and commenting access

Full annual dues ($120) billed after 60 days

By continuing you agree to our
Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
Advertisement
The New York Sun

© 2025 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

or
By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use