"An autobiographical, self-reflexive meditation that traces the critic's remarkable routes of growth into a world-class scholar." - Giuseppe Mazzotta, Yale University "Barolini is one of the finest close readers around, both intra-textually and inter-textually, with a special gift for putting the telling detail at the service of a global interpretation. This gathering of her saggi sparsi will be most welcome to all students of Italy's 'three crowns.'" - Albert Russell Ascoli, University of California, Berkeley"