SOURCE: "Short Stories," in Italo Svevo, Twayne Publishers, 1987, pp. 122-33.

In the following excerpt, Weiss explores Svevo's short fiction and finds a growing propensity toward literary experimentation.

It was not until 1888, that the fledgling author [Svevo] made his first appearance as a writer of fiction on the pages of L'Indipendente, which serialized his short story "Una lotta" ("A contest".) His "minor" narrative writings are a potpourri of mainly undated short stories and tales of different lengths, some fragmentary and others sketches of future works never brought to completion. Only seven were ever finished: "Una botta," "L'assassinio di Via Belpoggio," "La tribù," "La madre," "Una burla riuscita," "La novella del buon vecchio e della bella fanciulla," and "Vino generoso." An eighth, "Lo specifico del dottor Menghi," appears to be complete, except for a fragment missing on the first page. This narrative production—in addition to his plays—belies Svevo's...