Die amerikanische Braut
A psychological novel by Italian writer and director Mario Soldati about a love triangle, later adapted into a film: Italian professor Edoardo, his American wife Edith and her friend Anna. Passion, deception and tragedy.
The main character, Edoardo Talucci, a young Italian student of American literature, goes to the United States in the 1960s. In Connecticut, he falls in love with Edith Sladek, a blonde, cold girl of Czech origin who works in the student cafeteria. After returning to Italy, they get married.
At the moment of saying “I do” in a Piedmont church, Edoardo first sees Anna Russo, Edith’s best friend and sister-in-law (the wife of her brother Vaclav). It is love at first sight. The two couples travel together for a honeymoon to Venice, and then live in America (Edoardo teaches at Berkeley).
Edoardo enters into a passionate secret relationship with the dark, sensual Anna, while at the same time remaining devoted to Edith. He cannot choose between love and physical passion. The game continues for years, until Edith falls seriously ill (a brain tumor). After her death, Edoardo’s passion for Anna wanes.
Soldati explores desire, guilt, jealousy, and life torn between two cultures and two women with humor, psychological acuity, and the cinematic technique of flashback. A short, elegant, and intense novel about the impossibility of complete happiness.
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