Elio Vittorini (; 23 July 1908 – 12 February 1966) was an Italian writer and novelist. He was a contemporary of

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 li ...

and an influential voice in the

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

school of novel writing. His best-known work is the

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

novel ''

Conversations in Sicily ''Conversazione in Sicilia'' () is a novel by the Italian author Elio Vittorini. It originally appeared in serial form in the literary magazine ''Letteratura'' in 1938–1939, and was first published in book form under the title ''Nome e Lagrime'' ...

'', for which he was jailed when it was published in 1941. The first U.S. edition of the novel, published in 1949, included an introduction from

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 fic ...

, whose style influenced Vittorini and that novel in particular.

Life

Vittorini was born in

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States * Syracuse, New York ** East Syracuse, New York ** North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, M ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, and throughout his childhood moved around Sicily with his father, a railroad worker. Several times he ran away from home, culminating in his leaving Sicily for good in 1924. For a brief period, he found employment as a construction worker in the

Julian March Venezia Giulia, traditionally called Julian March (Serbo-Croatian, Slovene: ''Julijska krajina'') or Julian Venetia ( it, Venezia Giulia; vec, Venesia Julia; fur, Vignesie Julie; german: Julisch Venetien) is an area of southeastern Europe wh ...

, after which he moved to

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

to work as a type corrector (a line of work he abandoned in 1934 due to

lead poisoning Lead poisoning, also known as plumbism and saturnism, is a type of metal poisoning caused by lead in the body. The brain is the most sensitive. Symptoms may include abdominal pain, constipation, headaches, irritability, memory problems, inferti ...

). Around 1927 his work began to be published in literary journals. In many cases, separate editions of his novels and short stories from this period, such as ''The Red Carnation'' were not published until after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, due to fascist censorship. In 1937, he was expelled from the

National Fascist Party The National Fascist Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian Fascism and as a reorganization of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The p ...

for writing in support of the Republican side in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

. In 1939 he moved, this time to

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

. An anthology of American literature which he edited was, once more, delayed by censorship. Remaining an outspoken critic of

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in ...

's regime, Vittorini was arrested and jailed in 1942. He joined the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). ...

and began taking an active role in the Resistance, which provided the basis for his 1945 novel ''Men and not Men''. Also in 1945, he briefly became the editor of the Italian Communist daily '' L'Unita '' and weekly '' Il Politecnico ''. After the war, Vittorini chiefly concentrated on his work as editor, helping publish work by young Italians such as Calvino and Fenoglio. His last major published work of fiction during his lifetime was 1956's ''Erica and her Sisters''. The news of the events of the Hungarian Uprising deeply shook his convictions in Communism and made him decide to largely abandon writing, leaving unfinished work which was to be published in unedited form posthumously. For the remainder of his life, Vittorini continued in his post as an editor. In 1959, he co-founded with Calvino '' Il Menabò'', a cultural journal devoted to literature in the modern industrial age. He also ran as a candidate on an

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parties of the country. Founded in Genoa in 1892 ...

list. He died in Milan in 1966. He was an atheist.Berti Arnoaldi, Francesco, ''L'amico cattolico'', Edizioni Pendragon, 2005, p. 11

Partial bibliography

*''Racconti di piccola borghesia'' (1931) *''Il garofano rosso'' (Translated as ''The Red Carnation'', 1933) *''Conversazione in Sicilia'' (Translated as ''

'', 1941) *''Uomini e no'' (Translated as ''Men and not Men'', 1945) *''Le donne di Messina'' (1949) (Translated by Frances Frenaye, ''Women of Messina'', 1973) *''Erica e suoi fratelli'' (Translated as ''Erica'', 1956) He also translated the works of Defoe,

Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...

Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social ...

, Faulkner, Lawrence, Maugham and others into Italian.

References

Sources

Biographies *''Un padre e un figlio. Biografia famigliare di Elio Vittorini'' by Demetrio Vittorini. Bellinzona witzerland Salvioni, 2000. (Demetrio Vittorini is Elio Vittorini's son.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Vittorini, Elio 1908 births 1966 deaths Writers from Sicily People from Syracuse, Sicily People of Emilian descent Italian resistance movement members Italian anti-fascists Italian Communist Party politicians 20th-century Italian politicians 20th-century Italian translators 20th-century Italian novelists 20th-century Italian male writers Italian newspaper editors Italian male journalists Italian magazine founders