Ettore Sottsass and Fernanda Pivano 1969

Fernanda Pivano (18 July 1917 – 18 August 2009) was an Italian writer, journalist, translator and critic.

Early life

Pivano was born in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

in 1917. When she was a teenager she moved with her family to

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

where she attended the Massimo D'Azeglio Lyceum. There she met

Cesare Pavese Cesare Pavese ( , ; 9 September 1908 – 27 August 1950) was an Italian novelist, poet, short story writer, translator, literary critic, and essayist. He is often referred to as one of the most influential Italian writers of his time. Early lif ...

, who introduced her and her classmate

Primo Levi Primo Michele Levi (; 31 July 1919 – 11 April 1987) was an Italian chemist, partisan, writer, and Jewish Holocaust survivor. He was the author of several books, collections of short stories, essays, poems and one novel. His best-known works ...

to American literature. In 1941 she received a ''laurea'' () with a thesis on

Herman Melville Herman Melville ( born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are '' Moby-Dick'' (1851); '' Typee'' (1846), a ...

's ''

Moby-Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship ''Pequod'', for revenge against Moby Dick, the giant whi ...

'', which earned her a prize from the Center for American Studies in Rome.

Spoon River

In 1943 she obtained a second degree in philosophy. In the same year she completed her first translation, the Italian edition of the '' Spoon River Anthology'' by Edgar Lee Masters for

Einaudi Einaudi is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Luigi Einaudi (1874–1961), Italian politician *Mario Einaudi (1905–1994), Italian political scientist, son of Luigi *Giulio Einaudi (1912–1999), Italian publisher, son o ...

Career

In 1948, Pivano met

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...

. It turned out to be the beginning of an intense professional relationship and friendship that would last until Hemingway's death in 1961. In 1949 Mondadori published her translation of Hemingway's ''

A Farewell to Arms ''A Farewell to Arms'' is a novel by American writer Ernest Hemingway, set during the Italian campaign of World War I. First published in 1929, it is a first-person account of an American, Frederic Henry, serving as a lieutenant () in the a ...

''. (Citation/clarification needed. See ''

''.) In the same year Pivano married designer and architect

Ettore Sottsass Ettore Sottsass (Innsbruck, Austria 14 September 1917 – Milan, Italy 31 December 2007) was a 20th century Italian architect, noted for also designing furniture, jewellery, glass, lighting, home and office wares, as well as numerous buildings an ...

and moved to Milan, where she would live for the rest of her life. Pivano made her first trip to the United States in 1956 and throughout her professional life she contributed to the diffusion of the most significant American writers in Italy, from the great icons of the

Roaring Twenties The Roaring Twenties, sometimes stylized as Roaring '20s, refers to the 1920s decade in music and fashion, as it happened in Western society and Western culture. It was a period of economic prosperity with a distinctive cultural edge in th ...

, like F. Scott Fitzgerald,

Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet, writer, critic, and satirist based in New York; she was known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. From a conflicted and unhap ...

and

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most o ...

, through the writers of the 1960s (

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian an ...

, William S. Burroughs, Gregory Corso,

Lawrence Ferlinghetti Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. The author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, an ...

), to young contemporary writers including

Jay McInerney John Barrett "Jay" McInerney Jr. (; born January 13, 1955) is an American novelist, screenwriter, editor, and columnist. His novels include '' Bright Lights, Big City'', ''Ransom'', '' Story of My Life'', '' Brightness Falls'', and ''The Last ...

Bret Easton Ellis Bret Easton Ellis (born March 7, 1964) is an American author, screenwriter, short-story writer, and director. Ellis was first regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack and is a self-proclaimed satirist whose trademark technique, as a ...

David Foster Wallace David Foster Wallace (February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and university professor of English and creative writing. Wallace is widely known for his 1996 novel '' Infinite Jest'', whi ...

Chuck Palahniuk Charles Michael "Chuck" Palahniuk (; born February 21, 1962) is an American freelance journalist and novelist who describes his work as transgressional fiction. He has published 19 novels, three nonfiction books, two graphic novels, and two adu ...

and

Jonathan Safran Foer Jonathan Safran Foer (; born February 21, 1977) is an American novelist. He is known for his novels '' Everything Is Illuminated'' (2002), '' Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close'' (2005), '' Here I Am'' (2016), and for his non-fiction works ''Eati ...

. Pivano was also interested in African-American culture. In 1949 she met

Richard Wright Richard Wright may refer to: Arts * Richard Wright (author) (1908–1960), African-American novelist * Richard B. Wright (1937–2017), Canadian novelist * Richard Wright (painter) (1735–1775), marine painter * Richard Wright (artist) (born 19 ...

in Paris and went on to translate and edit many of his novels. In 1980 and 1984, Pivano interviewed Charles Bukowski at his home in

San Pedro, California San Pedro ( ; Spanish: "St. Peter") is a neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles, California. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los Angeles in 1909. The Port of Los Angeles, a major international seaport, is partially located wi ...

. These interviews became the basis for her book, ''Charles Bukowski: Laughing with the Gods'' first published in the United States by Sun Dog Press in 2000. In the summer of 2001 Pivano toured Northern America with director Luca Facchinito to film the documentary ''A Farewell to Beat'' – a celebration of the

Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Genera ...

featuring notable American writers, including

and

written by

Andrea Bempensante Andrea Bempensante (born 30 December 1969, in Milan) is an Italian screenwriter and senior writer at Le Iene Show, a satirical show on Italian television. He wrote the movies Assolo (1995), Doom (1996) and Cra-Cra (1997) which won awards at Veni ...

. Pivano also wrote about popular music and was an admirer of the work of

Fabrizio de André Fabrizio Cristiano De André (; 18 February 1940 – 11 January 1999) was an Italian singer-songwriter, the most prominent ''cantautore'' of his time. His 40-year career reflects his interests in concept albums, literature, poetry, political pr ...

and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

. In 2006 Pivano decided to revisit the Spoon River Anthology in the book ''Spoon River, ciao'' (Dreams Creek, 2006), a selection of her unpublished texts about the pictures taken by American photographer William Willinghton in the same locations described by Edgar Lee Masters in the Anthology.

Death

Fernanda Pivano died, aged 92, in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

on August 18, 2009. Her funeral took place on August 21 in the Basilica di Carignano in

. After the cremation, she was buried in the cemetery of Staglieno.

Legacy

In March 2010, Bompiani published ''Diari/2'', the second volume of her biography that collects her writings from 1974 to 2009.

Bibliography

* 1947: ''La balena bianca e altri miti'', Mondadori. * 1964: ''America rossa e nera'', Vallecchi. * 1972: ''Beat Hippie Yippie'', Arcana. * 1976: ''Mostri degli Anni Venti'', Formichieri. * 1976: ''C'era una volta un Beat'', Arcana. * 1971: ''L'altra America negli Anni Sessanta'', Officine Formichieri. * 1982: ''Intervista a Bukowski'', Sugar. * 1985: ''Biografia di Hemingway'', Rusconi. * 1986: ''Cos'è più la virtù'', Rusconi. * 1988: ''La mia kasbah'', Rusconi. * 1955: ''La balena bianca e altri miti'', Il Saggiatore. * 1996: ''Altri amici'', Mondadori. * 1996: ''Amici scrittori'', Mondadori. * 2001: ''Hemingway'', Rusconi. * 1997: ''Dov'è più la virtù'', Marsilio. * 1997: ''Viaggio americano'', Bompiani. * 1997: ''Album americano. Dalla generazione perduta agli scrittori della realtà virtuale'', Frassinelli. * 2000: ''I miei quadrifogli'', Frassinelli. * 2000: ''Dopo Hemingway. Libri, arte ed emozioni d’America'', Pironti. * 2001: ''Una favola'', Pagine d'arte. * 2002: ''Un po' di emozioni'', Fandango. * 2002: ''Mostri degli anni Venti'', La Tartaruga. * 2002: '' De André il corsaro'', with Cesare G. Romana and Michele Serra, Interlinea. * 2004: ''The beat goes on'', Mondadori. * 2006: ''Spoon River, ciao'' with photographs by William Willinghton, Dreams Creek. * 2006: ''Ho fatto una pace separata'', Dreams Creek. * 2007: ''Lo scrittore americano e la ragazza perbene'', Tullio Pironti Editore. * 2008: ''Complice la musica'', BUR. * 2008: ''Diari (1917–1973)'', edited by Enrico Rotelli with Mariarosa Bricchi, Bompiani. * 2010: ''Diari/2 (1974–2009)'', edited by Enrico Rotelli with Mariarosa Bricchi, Bompiani. * 2010: ''Libero chi legge'', Mondadori. * 2011: ''Leggende americane'', Bompiani.

Prizes

* 1964: Saint Vincent Prize for Journalism * 1975: Monselice Prize for Translation * 1983: San Gerolamo Prize * 1985: Giovanni Comisso Prize for literature * 1992: Mondello Prize * 1998: Estense Prize * 2002: Art, Science and Peace Prize * 2003:

Grinzane Cavour Prize The Grinzane Cavour Prize (1989–2009) was an Italian literary award established in 1982 by Francesco Meotto. The annual award ceremony took place in the medieval castle of Grinzane Cavour. The goal of the prize was to attract young people to re ...

* 2005: Tenco Prize * 2006: Vittorio De Sica Prize for literature

References

External links

Fernanda Pivano
* Fernanda Pivano Award {{DEFAULTSORT:Pivano, Fernanda 1917 births 2009 deaths Italian women journalists Italian women writers Writers from Genoa Writers from Milan 20th-century Italian translators 20th-century Italian women