Gianni Celati
Gianni Celati(10 January 1937 – 3 January 2022) was an Italian writer, translator, and literary critic.
Biography[edit]
Gianni Celati was born inSondrio,Italy,but spent his infancy and adolescence in theprovince of Ferrara.He graduated inEnglish literaturewith a degree onJames Joyceby the teacher Carlo Izzo of theUniversity of Bologna,[1]where he would later teach (he also taught at theCaen University,atCornell University,and atBrown University).
His first book,Comiche,was published in 1970 in theGiulio Einaudi's publishing company with an introduction byItalo Calvino,with whom he planned to found a literary magazine which never came to light. Another writer interested in the projects wasCarlo Ginzburg.All the letters were preserved and published later by the magazineRiga,no. 14 (1998), which later dedicated the entire no. 28 (2008) to Celati.
His three novelsLe avventure di Guizzardi(1972),La banda dei sospiri(1976), andLunario del paradiso(1978) were later published together inParlamenti buffi(1998), with a leave-letter of the author to his own book, which marked his passage from Einaudi to theGiangiacomo Feltrinelli's publishing company.
In 1985, he wrote the stories ofNarratori delle pianure(Grinzane Cavour Prize); in 1987Quattro novelle sulle apparenze;and in 1989Verso la foce(Mondello Prize). The three books reveal a new direction in the author's style, more serious and visual after the amusing and explosive wordy manner of the previous ones.
In 1994, he wroteL'Orlando innamorato raccontato in prosa,derived from theOrlando in LoveofMatteo Maria Boiardo.In 1998, he collected his notes from African travelling inAvventure in Africa(Feronia Prize). This book was awarded theZerilli-Marimò Prize for Italian Fiction.
In 2000, Rebecca J. West dedicated herGianni Celati: The Craft of Everyday Storytellingto his writings (published byUniversity of TorontoPress).
Other stories by Celati were collected inCinema naturale(2001, Piero Chiara Prize). In 2005, he published the pseudo-anthropological studyFata Morgana(2005, Ennio Flaiano Prize). In 2006, he won theViareggio Prizefor his novelVite di pascolanti[2]and made the third James K. Binder Lectureship in Literature at theUniversity of Californiain San Diego on "Fellinion the Italian Male ".
Celati has translated works byJonathan Swift,William Gerhardie,Herman Melville,Stendhal,Louis Ferdinand Céline,Mark Twain,Roland Barthes,Jack London,Henri Michaux,Georges Perec,and others.
He also directed a few documentaries, such asStrada Provinciale delle Anime(1991),Il Mondo di Luigi Ghirri(1999, on the Italianphotographer),Case Sparse(2003), andDiol Kadd(2010, shot inSenegal); while he starred inMondonuovo(2003) by the director Davide Ferrario, a movie on Celati's childhood.
Celati died inBrighton, Englandon 3 January 2022, at the age of 84.[3][4]
Works[edit]
- Comiche,Einaudi, Turin, 1971 (novel)
- Le avventure del Guizzardi,Einaudi, 1972; Feltrinelli, Milan, 1989; 1994 (novel)
- La banda dei sospiri,Einaudi, 1976; Feltrinelli, 1989; 1998 (novel)
- Finzioni occidentali,Einaudi 1975; 1986; 2001 (essays)
- Lunario del paradiso,Einaudi, 1978; Feltrinelli 1989; 1996 (novel)
- Alice disambientata,L'erba voglio, Milan, 1978; Le lettere, Rome, 2007 (pseudo-essay onLewis Carroll)
- Narratori delle pianure,Feltrinelli, 1985; 1988; translated by Robert Lumley,Voices from the plains,Serpent's Tail, London, 1989 (stories)
- Quattro novelle sulle apparenze,Feltrinelli, 1987; 1996; translated byStuart HoodasAppearances,Serpent's Tail, 1991 (stories)
- La farsa dei tre clandestini. Un adattamento dai Marx Brothers,Baskerville, Bologna, 1987 (theatre)
- Verso la foce,Feltrinelli 1988; 1992 (travels)
- Parlamenti buffi,Feltrinelli, 1989 (includingLe avventure del Guizzardi,La banda dei sospiri,andLunario del paradiso)
- L'Orlando innamorato raccontato in prosa,Einaudi, 1994 (rewriting in prose of the classical poem)
- Recita dell'attore Attilio Vecchiatto al teatro di Rio Saliceto,Feltrinelli, 1996 (theatre)
- Avventure in Africa,Feltrinelli 1998;
- Cinema naturale,Feltrinelli 2001; 2003 (stories)
- Fata Morgana,Feltrinelli, 2005 (pseudo-essay)
- Vite di pascolanti,Nottetempo, Rome, 2006 (stories)
- Costumi degli italiani: 1. Un eroe moderno,Quodlibet, Macerata, 2008 (stories)
- Costumi degli italiani: 2. Il benessere arriva in casa Pucci,Quodlibet 2008 (stories)
- Sonetti del Badalucco nell'Italia odierna,Feltrinelli, 2010 (poems as if written by Attilio Vecchiatto, character of the 1996 book and theatrical work)
- Cinema all'aperto,Fandango Libri, 2011 (with DVD)
- Conversazioni del vento volatore,Quodlibet 2011 (interviews)
- Passar la vita a Diol Kadd. Diari 2003-2006,Feltrinelli 2011 (with DVD)
- Selve d'amore,Quodlibet 2013 (stories)
Translations in English
- Adventures in Africa(Avventure in Africa), translated by Adria Bernardi, foreword by Rebecca J. West. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2000
Sources[edit]
- Rebecca J. West,Gianni Celati: The Craft of Everyday Storytelling,University of Toronto Press, 2000
References[edit]
- ^"Gianni Celati — internationales literaturfestival berlin".literaturfestival.18 April 2020.Retrieved18 April2020.
- ^"Gianni Celati - Granta".Granta.18 April 2020.Retrieved18 April2020.
- ^"È morto Gianni Celati, nomade della letteratura".La Repubblica.3 January 2022.
- ^"Morto lo scrittore Gianni Celati, aveva 84 anni".Fanpage(in Italian). 3 January 2022.Retrieved3 January2022.
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