Luigi Malerba (11 November 1927 – 8 May 2008), born Luigi Bonardi, was an Italian author of short stories, historical novels, and screenplays. He has been part of the

Neoavanguardia The Neoavanguardia ("New Vanguard") was an avant-garde Italian literary movement oriented towards radical forms of experimentation with language. Some of its most prominent members include Nanni Balestrini, Edoardo Sanguineti, Umberto Eco, Antonio ...

and co-founded ''

Gruppo 63 The Neoavanguardia ("New Vanguard") was an avant-garde Italian literary movement oriented towards radical forms of experimentation with language. Some of its most prominent members include Nanni Balestrini, Edoardo Sanguineti, Umberto Eco, Antonio ...

'', a literary movement inspired by

Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

and

Structuralism In sociology, anthropology, archaeology, history, philosophy, and linguistics, structuralism is a general theory of culture and methodology that implies that elements of human culture must be understood by way of their relationship to a broader s ...

. 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 with

Tonino Guerra Antonio "Tonino" Guerra (16 March 1920 – 21 March 2012) was an Italian poet, writer and screenwriter who collaborated with some of the most prominent film directors in the world. Life and work Guerra was born in Santarcangelo di Romagna. Acco ...

. He was the first writer to win the Prix Médicis étranger in 1970. He was awarded the in 1979, the in 1987, the

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 ...

in 1989 (with and

Raffaele La Capria Raffaele La Capria (3 October 1922 – 26 June 2022) was an Italian novelist and screenwriter. His second novel, '' The Mortal Wound'' (''Ferito a morte''), won Italy's most prestigious award, the Strega Prize, and is today considered a classi ...

), the

Viareggio Prize The Viareggio Prize ( it, Premio Viareggio, italic=no or ) is an Italian literary prize, first awarded in 1930. Named after the Tuscan city of Viareggio, it was conceived by three friends, , Carlo Salsa and Leonida Rèpaci, to rival the Milanese ...

in 1992, the

Flaiano Prize The Flaiano Prizes ( it, Premi Flaiano) are a set of Italian international awards recognizing achievements in the fields of creative writing, cinema, theater and radio-television. Established to honour the Italian author and screenwriter Ennio Fla ...

in 1990 and the in 1992. His name popped up among the candidates to 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 Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular 1980 novel ''The Name of th ...

said about him: "Many have associated Malerba with

post-modern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...

authors, but this classification is inaccurate. The author of ''What 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 called

, along with Balestrini, Sanguineti, and Manganelli. Paolo Mauri wrote about him: "Malerba operated within the

: he liked the idea of turning the old narratives upside down and go for new, experimental solutions. With his novels ''The serpent'' and ''What 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"."È morto lo scrittore Luigi Malerba, maestro di realtà deformate", su La Repubblica, 8 maggio 2008

Bibliography

Stories and novels

*''La scoperta dell'alfabeto'' (1963) *''Il serpente'' (1966) *''Salto mortale'' (1968, winner of

Prix Médicis The Prix Médicis is a French literary award given each year in November. It was founded in 1958 by and . It is awarded to an author whose "fame does not yet match his talent." The award goes to a work of fiction in the French language. In 19 ...

) *''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) *''Testa d'argento'' (1988, winner of

) *''Il fuoco greco'' (1990, set in the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

) *''Le pietre volanti'' (1992, winner of the

and 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 in English (as of July 2007): *''Il serpente'' as ''The Serpent'' *''Salto mortale'' as ''What 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 (as ''Ithaca Forever'').

Scenarios

*''

The Overcoat "The Overcoat" (russian: Шине́ль, translit. Shinyél’; sometimes translated as "The Cloak") is a short story by Russian author Nikolai Gogol, published in 1842. The story has had a great influence on Russian literature. Eugène-Me ...

'' (1952) *'' The Beach'' (1954) *'' Women and Soldiers'' (1954) *'' Catch As Catch Can'' (1967) *''

The Girl and the General ''The Girl and the General'' ( it, La Ragazza e il Generale) is a 1967 Italian anti-war comedy film starring Rod Steiger and Virna Lisi and produced by Carlo Ponti. Plot A young woman (Virna Lisi) and a soldier team up to deliver an Austrian Ge ...

'' (1967) *''

Oh, Grandmother's Dead ''Oh, Grandmother's Dead'' ( it, Toh, è morta la nonna!) is a 1969 Italian comedy film directed by Mario Monicelli and starring Sergio Tofano. Cast * Sirena Adgemova as Sparta * Carole André as Claretta * Wanda Capodaglio as Adelaide Ghia, ...

'' (1969)

References

Sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Malerba, Luigi 1927 births 2008 deaths Writers from the Province of Parma 20th-century Italian novelists 20th-century Italian male writers 20th-century Italian screenwriters Italian male screenwriters Gruppo 63 Prix Médicis étranger winners Viareggio Prize winners Italian male novelists