Letters from Prison

Frank Rosengarten is professor emeritus of Italian and comparative literature at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. He is the author of The Italian Anti-Fascist Press; The Writings of the Young Marcel Proust (1885-1900): An Ideological Critique; and Urbane Revolutionary: C.L.R. James and the Struggle for a New Society. Raymond Rosenthal (1915-1995) was a world-renowned translator of Italian literature.

The most complete and authoritative edition of Antonio Gramsci's prison letters available in any language. Raymond Rosenthal's translation... is reliable and gives a good sense of the colloquial style of the original. Frank Rosengarten's extensive notes, together with his introduction, represent a significant piece of Gramsci scholarship. Journal of the History of Philosophy These volumes are laced with political insight. They are also shrewd, humorous, brave, and resourceful. -- Terry Eagleton The Guardian Painstakingly edited by Frank Rosengarten and movingly translated by Raymond Rosenthal... the letters are illuminated by critical commentary that highlights the contrast between the material conditions of Gramsci's confinement and the extraordinary spaciousness of his intellectual concerns. Socialism and Democracy A credit to publisher, translator, and editor. Radical Philosophy Invaluable... The Letters serve to confirm Gramsci's remarkable intellectual stature... Equally apparent is the depth of his commitment to his beliefs. The Journal of the Historical Association One of the most poignant human stories of our century. -- Joseph A. Buttigieg, editor and translator of Gramsci's Prison Notebooks, Volumes 1, 2, and 3