Luigi Malerba

Luigi Malerba
Born	Luigi Bonardi (1927-11-11)11 November 1927 Berceto,Italy
Died	8 May 2008(2008-05-08)(aged 80) Rome
Occupation	Novelist short story writer screenwriter essayist
Period	1950s–2000s
Genre	Historical novel
Literary movement	Neoavanguardia
Notable works	The Serpent,What Is This Buzzing? Do You Hear It Too?
Notable awards	Prix Médicis étranger1970,Viareggio Prize1992

Luigi Malerba(11 November 1927 – 8 May 2008), bornLuigi Bonardi,was an Italian author of short stories, historical novels, and screenplays. He has been part of theNeoavanguardiaand co-foundedGruppo 63,a literary movement inspired byMarxismandStructuralism.Some of his most famous novels are La scoperta dell'alfabeto, The serpent, What Is This Buzzing, Do You Hear It Too?, Dopo il pescecane, Testa d'argento, Il fuoco greco, Le pietre volanti, Roman ghosts and Ithaca Forever: Penelope speaks. He wrote several stories and novels for kids, some of them in collaboration withTonino Guerra.

He was the first writer to win thePrix Médicis étrangerin 1970. He was awarded theBrancati Prizein 1979, theMondello Prizein 1987, theGrinzane Cavour Prizein 1989 (withStefano JacomuzziandRaffaele La Capria), theViareggio Prizein 1992, theFlaiano Prizein 1990 and theFeronia-Città di Fiano Prizein 1992. His name popped up among the candidates for the Nobel Prize for literature in 2000.

The memory

"An amusing writer, Malerba is a curious man: curious about language, history, customs, plots and coincidences in life. Not casually he ventured into novels, linguistic essays, screenplays for cinema and television and children's novels."

Umberto Ecosaid about him: "Many have associated Malerba withpost-modernauthors, but this classification is inaccurate. The author ofWhat Is This Buzzing, Do You Hear It Too?is always behaving in a maliciously ironic way, using subterfuges and ambiguities. "He was one of the most important exponents of the Italian literary movement calledNeoavanguardia,along withBalestrini,Sanguineti,andManganelli.

Paolo Mauri wrote about him: "Malerba operated within theNeoavanguardia:he liked the idea of turning the old narratives upside down and go for new, experimental solutions. With his novelsThe serpentandWhat Is This Buzzing, Do You Hear It Too?he started to play on the thread of paradox, where investigations lead to nothing, heroes born from the writer's mind and made to live on the page only to reveal an unexpected trick and a new, absolutely original language. He would then continue, from novel to novel, constantly renewing his themes and style. "

Bibliography

Stories and novels

• La scoperta dell'alfabeto(1963)
• Il serpente(1966)
• Salto mortale(1968, winner ofPrix Médicis)
• Il protagonista(1973)
• Mozziconi(1975)
• Storiette(1977)
• Il pataffio(1978)
• Le galline pensierose(1980)
• Diario di un sognatore(1981)
• Storiette tascabili(1984)
• Il pianeta azzurro(1986, winner of the winner of the Premio Mondello)
• I cani di Gerusalemme(1988, with Fabio Carpi)
• Testa d'argento(1988, winner ofGrinzane Cavour Prize)
• Il fuoco greco(1990, set in theByzantine Empire)
• Le pietre volanti(1992, winner of theViareggio Prizeand the Premio Feronia-Città di Fiano)
• Le maschere(1994)
• Itaca per sempre(1997)
• Pinocchio con gli stivali
• Città e dintorni(essays, 2001)
• Il circolo di Granada(2002)
• Fantasmi romani(2006)

English translations

Two of Malerba's books have been translated into English (as of July 2007):

• Il serpenteasThe Serpent
• Salto mortaleasWhat Is This Buzzing? Do You Hear It Too?

In addition, another of Malerba's novels,Itaca per sempre,has been translated by Douglas Grant Heise (asIthaca Forever).

Scenarios

• The Overcoat(1952)
• The Beach(1954)
• Women and Soldiers(1954)
• Catch As Catch Can(1967)
• The Girl and the General(1967)
• Oh, Grandmother's Dead(1969)

Sources

• Anderson, Helen Victoria (2010),Historical and detective fiction in Italy 1950-2006: Calvino, Malerba and Mancinelli,D. Phil. University of Oxford

External links

• Luigi MalerbaatIMDb