'If you have never read Svevo, do as soon as you can. He is beautiful and important' New Statesman 'A master' New Yorker Alfonso Nitti, tormented by the demands of his bank job, longs to be a poet. He also seems to be falling in love with Annetta, the vain and arrogant daughter of his boss. In this tale of the frustrated existence of a bank clerk with a poetic soul, the clash between the emptiness of Alfonso's daily life and his artistic aspirations has devastating consequences. A Life is the highly personal, semi-autobiographical first novel by Italo Svevo. A failure on first publication, it wasn't until the young James Joyce read this book that A Life finally gained the recognition it deserved, and Svevo was celebrated as one of the greatest Italian modernist novelists.