8 h 53 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 8 h 53 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a poet sees an armored car as both a weapon and a bedroom?
In The Steel Alcove, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti takes you to the Italian front in the First World War. The poet who founded Futurism draws on his own service as a volunteer, mixing diary, memoir and fiction. Danger and machinery fill a world he presents as loud, fast and charged with feeling.
At the book's heart stands an armored car: a steel shell that becomes a private nook where war and desire meet. Marinetti treats love and combat as forms of the same energy. His short, broken, loud sentences bring that fever onto the page. This is the front through a fervent participant's eyes, not a sober, balanced account.
What you’ll discover
- A poet at war Follow Marinetti from the poet's desk into his account of service at the Italian front.
- The steel bedroom Explore the strange central image that brings armored machinery and private desire together.
- Love beside combat Encounter a vision in which love and war share the same restless energy.
- Sentences built for speed Feel the force of short, broken sentences shaped by Marinetti's Futurist habits.
- A troubling point of view Read a heated personal vision of war with room to question its fervor.
Who will love it
Readers who like firsthand accounts of the First World War, the Italian front, Futurist art and noisy, experimental prose will find plenty here, along with anyone curious about war seen through a poet's eyes.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Pranks keep homesickness away before the battle
- A brothel visit leads to the plan for a dancing book
- The June fifteenth battle turns a machine gun into a lady
- After victory comes the prize on the Modena train
- Futurism turns a madman, a harbor and ships into art
- A night at Rapallo sets the moon against the war
- Waiting and leave teach him the cost of love
- Cavalry talk and the Piave crossing set the offensive in motion
- At Vittorio Veneto victory arrives with revenge
- The Carnia chase ends in an army trapped
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer, once the book texts are online.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, once the book texts are online.
- Audiobook
- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 14 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout. The eBook and the audiobook open when the book texts go online.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then 0,14 USD a day in your first year on the yearly plan and 0,27 USD a day after, or 0,66 USD a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
L’Alcôve d’acier
by F. T. Marinetti · 1921
A Futurist lieutenant races across the Piave in an armored car.
Medium level5–10 hours to readfrançais
Excellent
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then 0,14 USD a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
- Read or listen
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
In short
Picture a dinner on a mountain ridge in June 1918. An Italian lieutenant stands with a forkful of spaghetti and orders twenty officers to shove their plates two places to the right, just to keep homesickness away.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Pranks keep homesickness away before the battle
The diary opens on the first of June, 1918, in the bombardiers' barracks on a ridge in Val d'Astico. About twenty officers eat red spaghetti while the sunset glows over the plain. Marinetti decides the table is too quiet and invents a game.
He orders everyone to move two places to the right, plates and glasses in hand. The doctor protests, his macaroni lands on his tunic, and wine floods the table. Colonel Squilloni laughs, and the young men sing a nonsense anthem. The author calls it a Futurist prank.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
You looked at
Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1921
- Language
- français
- Reading time
- 5 h 45 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Marinetti, Filippo Tommaso. The Steel Alcove. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-steel-alcove.
Marinetti, F. T. (2026). The steel alcove. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-steel-alcove (Original work published 1921)
Marinetti, Filippo Tommaso. The Steel Alcove. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-steel-alcove.
@book{marinetti2026steel,
author = {Marinetti, Filippo Tommaso},
title = {The Steel Alcove},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-steel-alcove},
note = {First published 1921}
}
Free gifts
580 USD in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
170 USDFREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
120 USDFREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
60 USDFREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
60 USDFREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
170 USDFREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about L’Alcôve d’acier
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is The Steel Alcove about?
It is Marinetti's diary of the last months of the First World War on the Italian front, from the June 1918 battle in the mountains to the armistice, told through armored car 74 and its crew.
What does the title The Steel Alcove mean?
The alcove is armored car 74, which Marinetti calls his lover's bedroom. In his imagery the car becomes a private room where he joins the machine and, in his dreams, the body of Italy.
Is The Steel Alcove a true story?
It is presented as a diary and draws on real battles, places and officers, including Caviglia, Diaz and Raby. Marinetti shapes events with dreams and exaggeration, so it reads as memoir and performance together.
The author
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
1876–1944 · Italian Futurist poet
Italian poet and editor, founder of the Futurist movement.
More like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
