chiaroscuro

Like her day-to-day life, it is a work of chiaroscuro, a portrait of extremes: roses and guns.

It’s a good thing that Jagannathan and Brown have training in the theater: They imbue Priya and Nic’s densely verbal jousts, dodges and truths with compelling chiaroscuro hues.

In that chiaroscuro environment, reminiscent of the landscapes and photographs of the Mexican writer Juan Rulfo, Escobedo developed his sensitivity toward images, and the need to find his roots.

In later books like “Chiaroscuro: Essays on Identity” and “Their Other Side: Six American Women and the Lure of Italy,” Ms. Barolini returned to the subjects and themes that propelled “Umbertina.”

In both men’s work, chiaroscuro laughs come hand in hand with personal catastrophe.