Federigo Tozzi (born 1 January 1883 in

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...

; died 21 March 1920 in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

) was an Italian writer.

Biography

He was the son of an innkeeper. He initially worked as a railway official, but took over running the family inn after his father's death. In 1911 he published his first book of poetry. Two years later, he began work on his first novel, ''Con gli occhi chiusi'' ("With closed eyes"), which was highly autobiographical. That same year, he also founded a nationalist, bi-weekly magazine called ''La Torre'' and became a journalist in Rome. Through his literary activity, he caught the attention of the writer

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature for "his almost magical power ...

, who subsequently supported him. Tozzi died in 1920 from a combination of influenza and

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

. In the decades following his death, he came to be considered one of the first Italian modernists. According to

Italo Calvino Italo Calvino (, also , ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian writer and journalist. His best known works include the '' Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the ''Cosmicomi ...

, he is one of the great European writers of Italian descent. His style is concise and laconic (Piper Verlag). According to

Alberto Moravia Alberto Moravia ( , ; born Alberto Pincherle ; 28 November 1907 – 26 September 1990) was an Italian novelist and journalist. His novels explored matters of modern sexuality, social alienation and existentialism. Moravia is best known for his de ...

, Tozzi describes great tragedies with simple words.

Works

* ''Bestie'' (1917) * ''Con gli occhi chiusi'' (1919) * ''Tre croci'' (1920) (''Three Crosses'', trans. R. Capellero, 1921) * ''Il podere'' (1921) * ''Gli egoisti'' (1923) * ''Ricordi di un impiegato'' (1927) * ''Novelle'' * ''Bestie, cose, persone''

External links

Works by Federigo Tozzi
a
Biblioteca Italiana
(in Italian) 1883 births 1920 deaths Deaths from Spanish flu Writers from Siena Italian male poets Italian male novelists 20th-century Italian poets 20th-century Italian novelists 20th-century Italian male writers {{Italy-writer-stub