only two and a half years old. According to her, her first love was a heaven, but then it transformed into a hell. The metaphor of love can easily be traced back to one of her most famous poems, "Alibi." Love and Narcissism are themes well connected to each other. Most of Morante's characters seek love, not because they have true feelings for the person they fell in love with, but because they need to cover the feelings of emptiness from their childhood. It is through love and narcissism that Morante introduces other themes such as the role of motherhood and the meaning of childhood experiences. Bibliography Novels and novellas Menzogna e sortilegio (1948) (House of Liars, trans. Adrienne Foulke, 1951; also as Lies and Sorcery, trans. Jenny McPhee, 2023) L'isola di Arturo (1957) (Arturo's Island, trans. Isabel Quigly, 1959; trans. Ann Goldstein, 2019) La storia (1974) (History: A Novel, trans. William Weaver, 1977) Aracoeli (1982) (Aracoeli, trans. William Weaver, 1984) Short story collections Il gioco segreto (1941) - twenty short stories Le straordinarie avventure di Caterì dalla Trecciolina (1942) - later revised, expanded and republished as Le straordinarie avventure di Caterina, containing thirteen short stories Lo scialle andaluso (1963) - twelve short stories Racconti dimenticati (1937–1947) twenty early short stories, published by Einaudi in 2002. Aneddoti infantili (1939–1940) - fifteen short stories that originally appeared in the magazine "Oggi", published by Einaudi in 2013. Poetry Alibi (1958) Il Mondo Salvato dai Ragazzini (1968), which includes "La canzone degli F.P. e degli I.M.in tre parti" The song of the H.F. and the U.M. in three parts, transl. M. Palladino & P. Hart (Joker 2007). A full translation by Cristina Viti, The World Saved By Kids, was published by Seagull Books in 2016. Children's books Le straordinarie avventure di Caterina (1959) Non-fiction Pro e contro la bomba atomica (1987, essays) References External links The Dark in the Piazza Tim Parks essay on Morante from The New York Review of Books Il Gioco Segreto (The Secret Game) - full English translation at The Short Story Project The Disillusionist review by Madeleine Schwartz of Arturo's Island in The New York Review of Books. 1912 births 1985 deaths 20th-century Italian Jews Italian women novelists Jewish women writers Prix Médicis étranger winners Strega Prize winners Viareggio Prize winners Writers from Rome 20th-century Italian women writers 20th-century Italian novelists Jewish Italian writers 20th-century Italian translators