Alberto Arbasino

Italian writer and politician (1930–2020)

Nino Alberto Arbasino
Arbasino in 1976
Arbasino in 1976
Born(1930-01-22)22 January 1930
Voghera, Lombardy, Italy
Died22 March 2020(2020-03-22) (aged 90)
Milan, Lombardy, Italy
OccupationWriter, essayist
LanguageItalian
Alma materUniversity of Milan
Harvard University
University of Pavia
Literary movementNeoavanguardia
Notable worksSuper Elagabalus
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
12 July 1983 – 1 July 1987
Personal details
Political partyItalian Republican Party

Nino Alberto Arbasino (22 January 1930 – 22 March 2020) was an Italian writer, essayist, and politician.

Among the protagonists of Group 63, his literary production has ranged from novels (Fratelli d'Italia of 1963, rewritten in 1976 and 1993) to essay (for example Un Paese senza, 1980). He considered himself an expressionist writer, and he considered Super Eliogabalo his most surrealist and also his most expressionist book: "Especially for the descriptions of the places, which are always dreamlike and delusional".[1]

Biography

Arbasino was born in Voghera, southwestern Lombardy. He studied at the University of Milan where he graduated in law. Later he worked as a journalist for magazines such as Il Mondo and the newspaper La Repubblica. From 1983 to 1987, he was a deputy in the Italian Parliament for the Italian Republican Party.

His work includes novels and essays. Arbasino was a member of the Gruppo 63.

He described himself as an expressionist writer and considered his novel Super Eliogabalo ("Super Elagabalus", 1969) as his most surreal and most expressionist book.[2] He edited and rewrote his various works, which were reprinted in updated versions.[3]

Arbasino literary approach to homosexuality broke the Italian stereotype of the "guilty" gay character, particularly in his 1963 novel Fratelli d'Italia. Arbasino was openly gay in his personal life.[4]

In the 1970s he was the host of the TV debate show Match. In December 1977 it hosted a famous debate between directors Mario Monicelli and (the emerging) Nanni Moretti. Moretti said that Monicelli's An Average Little Man was a reactionary film.[5][6]

In 2004 he won the Premio Chiara for his career.

Arbasino died on 22 March 2020, at the age of 90, after a long illness.[7]

Works

  • Le piccole vacanze, Einaudi, 1957 (first edition)
  • Le piccole vacanze, Einaudi, 1971, (ISBN 88-06-31658-3) (second edition)
  • Le piccole vacanze, Adelphi, 2007, (ISBN 978-88-459-2182-7) (third edition)
  • L'Anonimo lombardo, 1959, Einaudi (ISBN 88-06-37002-2)
  • Fratelli d'Italia, 1963, 1967, 1976, Einaudi (ISBN 88-06-25106-6)
  • Certi romanzi, 1964
  • Super Eliogabalo, 1969, 1978, Einaudi (ISBN 88-06-10603-1)
  • Certi romanzi – La Belle Epoque per le scuole, 1977, Einaudi (ISBN 88-06-09563-3)
  • La narcisata, 1975, Einaudi (ISBN 88-06-42234-0)
  • Il principe costante, 2 ed., 1972, Einaudi (ISBN 88-06-34892-2)
  • La bella di Lodi, 1972, Einaudi (ISBN 88-06-33183-3)
  • In questo Stato, 1978, Garzanti Libri (ISBN 88-11-73946-2)
  • Un paese senza, 1980, Garzanti Libri
  • Trans – Pacific Express, 1981, Garzanti Libri (ISBN 88-11-59908-3)
  • Matine, 1983, Garzanti Libri (ISBN 88-11-59907-5)
  • Il meraviglioso, anzi, 1985, Garzanti Libri (ISBN 88-11-59921-0)
  • La caduta dei tiranni, 1990, Sellerio di Giorgianni (ISBN 88-389-0642-4)
  • Un paese senza, 2 ed., 1990, Garzanti Libri (ISBN 88-11-67405-0)
  • Fratelli d'Italia, réédition de 1993, Adelphi (ISBN 88-459-1000-8)
  • Mekong, 1994, Adelphi (ISBN 88-459-1081-4)
  • Specchio delle mie brame, 1995, Adelphi (ISBN 88-459-1127-6)
  • Parigi o cara, 2 ed., 1996, Adelphi (ISBN 88-459-1177-2)
  • Lettere da Londra, 1997, Adelphi (ISBN 88-459-1278-7)
  • Passeggiando tra i draghi addormentati, 1997, Adelphi
  • Paesaggi italiani con zombi, 1998, Adelphi (ISBN 88-459-1404-6)
  • Le muse a Los Angeles, 2000, Adelphi
  • Rap!, 2001, Feltrinelli
  • Dall'Ellade a Bisanzio, 2006, Adelphi
  • La Vita bassa, 2009, Adelphi

Honour

  •  Italy: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (6 December 1995)[8]

References

  1. ^ "Conversazione con Alberto Arbasino". 3 January 2011. Archived from the original on 3 January 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  2. ^ (in Italian) "Alberto Arbasino, Conversazione Con Gabriele Pedullà" marcosymarcos.com Archived 3 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 19 June 2009
  3. ^ (in Italian) "Alberto Arbasino, L'anonimo lombardo" italialibri.net Retrieved 19 June 2009
  4. ^ Finelli, Claudio (24 March 2020). "Addio ad Alberto Arbasino, genio anticonformista, il cui talento ha arricchito l'Italia". GAYNEWS (in Italian). Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  5. ^ Match Monicelli-Moretti on YouTube
  6. ^ Moretti contro Monicelli. su Raitre " vecchia " polemica, in Corriere della Sera, 6 June 1994, p.28
  7. ^ "Morto Alberto Arbasino, ha raccontato l'Italia". La Repubblica. 23 March 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  8. ^ "Le onorificenze della Repubblica Italiana". www.quirinale.it. Retrieved 24 October 2022.

Further reading

  • Fusillo, Massimo Il Satyricon nel Novecento: fra neopicaresco e camp
  • Arbasino (1963) La gita a Chiasso, in Il Giorno, 23 gennaio 1963. Later republished in Gruppo 63 (1976) Crìtica e teoria

External links

  • Files about his parliamentary activities (in Italian): IX legislature.
Awards received by Alberto Arbasino
  • v
  • t
  • e
Recipients of the Mondello Prize
Single Prize for Literature
Special Jury Prize
First narrative work
First poetic work
  • Giovanni Giuga (1978)
  • Gilberto Sacerdoti (1979)
Prize for foreign literature
Prize for foreign poetry
First work
  • Valerio Magrelli (1980)
  • Ferruccio Benzoni, Stefano Simoncelli, Walter Valeri, Laura Mancinelli (1981)
  • Jolanda Insana (1982)
  • Daniele Del Giudice (1983)
  • Aldo Busi (1984)
  • Elisabetta Rasy, Dario Villa (1985)
  • Marco Lodoli, Angelo Mainardi (1986)
  • Marco Ceriani, Giovanni Giudice (1987)
  • Edoardo Albinati, Silvana La Spina (1988)
  • Andrea Canobbio, Romana Petri (1990)
  • Anna Cascella (1991)
  • Marco Caporali, Nelida Milani (1992)
  • Silvana Grasso, Giulio Mozzi (1993)
  • Ernesto Franco (1994)
  • Roberto Deidier (1995)
  • Giuseppe Quatriglio, Tiziano Scarpa (1996)
  • Fabrizio Rondolino (1997)
  • Alba Donati (1998)
  • Paolo Febbraro (1999)
  • Evelina Santangelo (2000)
  • Giuseppe Lupo (2001)
  • Giovanni Bergamini, Simona Corso (2003)
  • Adriano Lo Monaco (2004)
  • Piercarlo Rizzi (2005)
  • Francesco Fontana (2006)
  • Paolo Fallai (2007)
  • Luca Giachi (2008)
  • Carlo Carabba (2009)
  • Gabriele Pedullà (2010)
Foreign author
Italian Author
"Five Continents" Award
"Palermo bridge for Europe" Award
Ignazio Buttitta Award
  • Nino De Vita (2003)
  • Attilio Lolini (2005)
  • Roberto Rossi Precerotti (2006)
  • Silvia Bre (2007)
Supermondello
Special award of the President
  • Ibrahim al-Koni (2009)
  • Emmanuele Maria Emanuele (2010)
  • Antonio Calabrò (2011)
Poetry prize
  • Antonio Riccardi (2010)
Translation Award
  • Evgenij Solonovic (2010)
Identity and dialectal literatures award
Essays Prize
  • Marzio Barbagli (2010)
Mondello for Multiculturality Award
Mondello Youths Award
"Targa Archimede", Premio all'Intelligenza d'Impresa
Prize for Literary Criticism
Award for best motivation
  • Simona Gioè (2012)
Special award for travel literature
  • Marina Valensise (2013)
Special Award 40 Years of Mondello
  • v
  • t
  • e
Recipients of the Viareggio Prize
1930s
1940s
Silvio Micheli – Umberto Saba (1946) • Antonio Gramsci (1947) • Aldo PalazzeschiElsa MoranteSibilla Aleramo (1948) • Arturo Carlo Jemolo – Renata Viganò (1949)
1950s
Francesco JovineCarlo Bernari (1950) • Domenico Rea (1951) • Tommaso Fiore (1952) • Carlo Emilio Gadda (1953) • Rocco Scotellaro (1954) • Vasco Pratolini (1955) • Carlo LeviGianna Manzini (1956) • Italo CalvinoPier Paolo Pasolini (1957) • Ernesto de Martino (1958) • Marino Moretti (1959)
1960s
Giovanni Battista Angioletti (1960) • Alberto Moravia (1961) • Giorgio Bassani (1962) • Antonio Delfini – Sergio Solmi (1963) • Giuseppe Berto (1964) • Goffredo Parise - Angelo Maria Ripellino (1965) • Ottiero OttieriAlfonso Gatto (1966) • Raffaello Brignetti (1967) • Libero Bigiaretti (1968) • Fulvio Tomizza (1969)
1970s
Nello Saito (1970) • Ugo Attardi (1971) • Romano Bilenchi (1972) • Achille Campanile (1973) • Clotilde Marghieri (1974) • Paolo Volponi (1975) • Mario TobinoDario BellezzaSergio Solmi (1976) • Davide Lajolo (1977) • Antonio Altomonte – Mario Luzi (1978) • Giorgio Manganelli (1979)
1980s
Stefano Terra (1980) • Enzo Siciliano (1981) • Primo Levi (1982) • Giuliana Morandini (1983) • Gina Lagorio – Bruno Gentili (1984) • Manlio Cancogni (1985) • Marisa Volpi (1986) • Mario Spinella (1987) • Rosetta Loy (1988) • Salvatore Mannuzzu (1989)
1990s
Luisa Adorno – Cesare Viviani – Maurizio Calvesi (1990) • Antonio Debenedetti (1991) • Luigi Malerba (1992) • Alessandro Baricco (1993) • Antonio Tabucchi (1994) • Maurizio Maggiani – Elio Pagliarani (1995) • Ermanno ReaAlda Merini (1996) • Claudio Piersanti – Franca Grisoni – Corrado Stajano (1997) • Giorgio Pressburger – Michele Sovente – Carlo Ginzburg (1998) • Ernesto Franco (1999)
2000s
Giorgio van Straten – Sandro Veronesi (2000) • Niccolò Ammaniti – Michele Ranchetti – Giorgio Pestelli (2001) • Fleur JaeggyJolanda Insana – Alfonso Berardinelli (2002) • Giuseppe Montesano (2003) • Edoardo Albinati – Andrea Tagliapietra – Livia Livi (2004) • Raffaele La Capria – Alberto Arbasino – Milo de Angelis (2005) • Gianni Celati – Giovanni Agosti – Giuseppe ConteRoberto Saviano (2006) • Filippo Tuena – Paolo Mauri – Silvia Bre – Simona Baldanzi – Paolo Colagrande – Paolo Fallai (2007) • Francesca Sanvitale – Miguel Gotor – Eugenio De Signoribus (2008) • Edith Bruck – Adriano Prosperi – Ennio Cavalli (2009)
2010s
Nicola Lagioia – Michele Emmer – Pierluigi Cappello (2010) • Alessandro Mari – Mario Lavagetto – Gian Mario Villalta (2011) • Nicola Gardini – Franco Lo Piparo – Antonella Anedda (2012) • Paolo Di Stefano – Giulio Guidorizzi – Enrico Testa (2013) • Francesco Pecoraro – Alessandro Fo – Luciano Mecacci (2014) • Antonio Scurati – Massimo Bucciantini – Franco Buffoni (2015) • Franco Cordelli – Bruno Pischedda – Sonia Gentili (2016) • Gianfranco Calligarich – Giuseppe Montesano – Stefano Carrai (2017) • Fabio Genovesi – Giuseppe Lupo (2018) • Emanuele Trevi – Renato Minore – Saverio Ricci (2019)
2020s
Paolo Di Paolo – Luciano Cecchinel – Giulio Ferroni (2020) • Edith Bruck - Flavio Santi - Walter Siti (2021) • Silvia Sciorilli Borrelli – Pietro CastellittoClaudio Damiani – Wlodek Goldkorn – Agnese Pini – Veronica Raimo – Silvia Ronchey (2022)
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