A prolific member of the Tuscan verismo school of literary realism, Mario Pratesi (1842–1921) was much respected during his career but sadly neglected after his death. Using Pratesi’s personal archive, now preserved at Victoria College in the University of Toronto, Reviewing Mario Pratesi takes Pratesi’s life and papers as the basis of a unique study of the literary culture of post-Unification Italy.

Working with the original manuscripts, alongside previously unknown biographical materials and a vast collection of contemporary reviews, Anne Urbancic uses the methods of critique génétique not only to reconstruct the evolution of Pratesi’s works through their successive drafts and published versions, but also to document the impact of book reviews and the press on the development of Pratesi’s literary style. An insightful history of book reviewing as a genre and a detailed study of its role in Italian literary culture, Reviewing Mario Pratesi opens up a new area for investigation within Italian literary studies.