"All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered."

The Shrimp-Prince

I received a lovely rejection yesterday, detailing why the agency can’t undertake representation of my project and prompting me to submit more works in the future. I know it might be a form and all, but it was a kind form nonetheless.

Back to business, this means my patrons get another fairy tale, and this time it’s free for all: it’s another original translation of a story by Guido Gozzano, a late-XIX-Century Italian symbolist poet, and it features the story of a Prince who gets cursed to… go backwards. He walks like a Shrimp, even when he’s on horseback, and most importantly, he starts rejuvenating. Francis Scott Fitzgerald‘s short story “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (you might remember the movie) is from 1922, while this story is from around 1901.
Weird, right?
The same theme of a man ageing backwards can be found in the 1989 science fiction novel Hyperion by American author Dan Simmons, in which the structures known as “Time Tombs” are pockets where time runs backwards. Bradley Cooper is making a movie out of it.

Anyway, the full text of the fairy tale is in the Patreon post, which, as I said, this time is not behind the subscription.

books and literature

Werewolves Wednesday: The Wolf-Leader (16)

A werewolf story by Alexandre Dumas père. Chapter XVI: My Lady’s Lady Thibault was delighted at seeing what had happened to the young Baron, whose hand, anything but light, had so shortly before made use of his whip on Thibault’s shoulders, which still smarted with the blow.

Read More »
architecture, engineering and construction

Ornaments in Transit: Tracing Milan’s Art Deco Echoes

Do you remember last month, when we took a stroll through Milan in the wake of Casorati’s new exhibition at Palazzo Reale? I would be amiss if I didn’t follow up with another walk inspired by another, great show, closing this month, so here we

Read More »
Pride Month

Pride Month 2025: Art of the Day

Swapped Lives, Eternal Forms: Visualising Gender Fluidity in the Torikaebaya Monogatari Torikaebaya Monogatari (literally “If only I could exchange (them)!” often translated as “The Changelings”) is a 12th-century Japanese narrative that tells the story of two siblings: a boy raised as a girl and a

Read More »
Share on LinkedIn
Throw on Reddit
Roll on Tumblr
Mail it
No Comments

Post A Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

RELATED POSTS

Werewolves Wednesday: The Wolf-Leader (16)

A werewolf story by Alexandre Dumas père. Chapter XVI: My Lady’s Lady Thibault was delighted at seeing what had happened to the young Baron, whose hand, anything but light, had so shortly before made use of his whip on Thibault’s shoulders, which still smarted with the blow.

Read More

Pride Month 2025: Art of the Day

Swapped Lives, Eternal Forms: Visualising Gender Fluidity in the Torikaebaya Monogatari Torikaebaya Monogatari (literally “If only I could exchange (them)!” often translated as “The Changelings”) is a 12th-century Japanese narrative that tells the story of two siblings: a boy raised as a girl and a

Read More