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
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Recipients of the Mondello Prize
Single Prize for Literature: Bartolo Cattafi (1975) • Achille Campanile (1976) • Günter Grass (1977)
Special Jury Prize: Denise McSmith (1975) • Stefano D'Arrigo (1977) • Yury Trifonov (1978) • Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz (1979) • Pietro Consagra (1980) • Ignazio Buttitta, Angelo Maria e Ela Ripellino (1983) • Leonardo Sciascia (1985) • Wang Meng (1987) • Mikhail Gorbachev (1988) • Peter Carey, José Donoso, Northrop Frye, Jorge Semprún, Wole Soyinka, Lu Tongliu (1990) • Fernanda Pivano (1992) • Associazione Scrittori Cinesi (1993) • Dong Baoucum, Fan Boaci, Wang Huanbao, Shi Peide, Chen Yuanbin (1995) • Xu Huainzhong, Xiao Xue, Yu Yougqnan, Qin Weinjung (1996) • Khushwant Singh (1997) • Javier Marías (1998) • Francesco Burdin (2001) • Luciano Erba (2002) • Isabella Quarantotti De Filippo (2003) • Marina Rullo (2006) • Andrea Ceccherini (2007) • Enrique Vila-Matas (2009) • Francesco Forgione (2010)
First narrative work: Carmelo Samonà (1978) • Fausta Garavini (1979)
First poetic work: Giovanni Giuga (1978) • Gilberto Sacerdoti (1979)
Prize for foreign literature: Milan Kundera (1978) • N. Scott Momaday (1979) • Juan Carlos Onetti (1980) • Tadeusz Konwicki (1981)
Prize for foreign poetry: Jannis Ritsos (1978) • Joseph Brodsky (1979) • Juan Gelman (1980) • Gyula Illyés (1981)
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: Alain Robbe-Grillet (1982) • Thomas Bernhard (1983) • Adolfo Bioy Casares (1984) • Bernard Malamud (1985) • Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1986) • Doris Lessing (1987) • V. S. Naipaul (1988) • Octavio Paz (1989) • Christa Wolf (1990) • Kurt Vonnegut (1991) • Bohumil Hrabal (1992) • Seamus Heaney (1993) • J. M. Coetzee (1994) • Vladimir Voinovich (1995) • David Grossman (1996) • Philippe Jaccottet (1998) • Don DeLillo (1999) • Aleksandar Tišma (2000) • Nuruddin Farah (2001) • Per Olov Enquist (2002) • Adunis (2003) • Les Murray (2004) • Magda Szabó (2005) • Uwe Timm (2006) • Bapsi Sidhwa (2007) • Viktor Yerofeyev (2009) • Edmund White (2010) • Javier Cercas (2011) • Elizabeth Strout (2012) • Péter Esterházy (2013) • Joe R. Lansdale (2014) • Emmanuel Carrère (2015) • Marilynne Robinson (2016) • Cees Nooteboom (2017)
Italian Author: Alberto Moravia (1982) • Vittorio Sereni alla memoria (1983) • Italo Calvino (1984) • Mario Luzi (1985) • Paolo Volponi (1986) • Luigi Malerba (1987) • Oreste del Buono (1988) • Giovanni Macchia (1989) • Gianni Celati, Emilio Villa (1990) • Andrea Zanzotto (1991) • Ottiero Ottieri (1992) • Attilio Bertolucci (1993) • Luigi Meneghello (1994) • Fernando Bandini, Michele Perriera (1995) • Nico Orengo (1996) • Giuseppe Bonaviri, Giovanni Raboni (1997) • Carlo Ginzburg (1998) • Alessandro Parronchi (1999) • Elio Bartolini (2000) • Roberto Alajmo (2001) • Andrea Camilleri (2002) • Andrea Carraro, Antonio Franchini, Giorgio Pressburger (2003) • Maurizio Bettini, Giorgio Montefoschi, Nelo Risi (2004) • pr. Raffaele Nigro, sec. Maurizio Cucchi, ter. Giuseppe Conte (2005) • pr. Paolo Di Stefano, sec. Giulio Angioni (2006) • pr. Mario Fortunato, sec. Toni Maraini, ter. Andrea Di Consoli (2007) • pr. Andrea Bajani, sec. Antonio Scurati, ter. Flavio Soriga (2008) • pr. Mario Desiati, sec. Osvaldo Guerrieri, ter. Gregorio Scalise (2009) • pr. Lorenzo Pavolini, sec. Roberto Cazzola, ter. (2010) • pr. Eugenio Baroncelli, sec. Milo De Angelis, ter. Igiaba Scego (2011) • pr. Edoardo Albinati, sec. Paolo Di Paolo, ter. Davide Orecchio (2012) • pr. Andrea Canobbio, sec. Valerio Magrelli, ter. Walter Siti (2013) • pr. Irene Chias, sec. Giorgio Falco, ter. Francesco Pecoraro (2014) • pr. Nicola Lagioia, sec. Letizia Muratori, ter. Marco Missiroli (2015) • pr. Marcello Fois, sec. Emanuele Tonon, ter. Romana Petri (2016) • pr. Stefano Massini, sec. Alessandro Zaccuri, ter. Alessandra Sarchi (2017)
"Palermo bridge for Europe" Award: Dacia Maraini (1999), Premio Palermo ponte per il Mediterraneo Alberto Arbasino (2000)
"Ignazio Buttitta" Award: Nino De Vita (2003) • Attilio Lolini (2005) • Roberto Rossi Precerotti (2006) • Silvia Bre (2007)
Supermondello Tiziano Scarpa (2009) • Michela Murgia (2010) • Eugenio Baroncelli (2011) • Davide Orecchio (2012) • Valerio Magrelli (2013) • Giorgio Falco (2014) • Marco Missiroli (2015) • Romana Petri (2016) • Stefano Massini (2017)
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: Gialuigi Beccaria e Marco Paolini (2010)
Essays Prize: Marzio Barbagli (2010)
Mondello for Multiculturality Award: Kim Thúy (2011)
Mondello Youths Award: Claudia Durastanti (2011) • Edoardo Albinati (2012) • Alessandro Zaccuri (2017)
"Targa Archimede", Premio all'Intelligenza d'Impresa: Enzo Sellerio (2011)
Prize for Literary Criticism: Salvatore Silvano Nigro (2012) • Maurizio Bettini (2013) • Enrico Testa (2014) • Ermanno Cavazzoni (2015) • Serena Vitale (2016) • Antonio Prete (2017)
Award for best motivation: Simona Gioè (2012)
Special award for travel literature: Marina Valensise (2013)
Special Award 40 Years of Mondello: Gipi (2014)
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Recipients of the Viareggio Prize
1930s
1940s
Silvio Micheli – Umberto Saba (1946) • Antonio Gramsci (1947) • Aldo Palazzeschi – Elsa Morante – Sibilla Aleramo (1948) • Arturo Carlo Jemolo – Renata Viganò (1949)
1950s
Francesco Jovine – Carlo Bernari (1950) • Domenico Rea (1951) • Tommaso Fiore (1952) • Carlo Emilio Gadda (1953) • Rocco Scotellaro (1954) • Vasco Pratolini (1955) • Carlo Levi – Gianna Manzini (1956) • Italo Calvino – Pier 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 Ottieri – Alfonso 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 Tobino – Dario Bellezza – Sergio 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 Rea – Alda 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 Jaeggy – Jolanda 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 Conte – Roberto 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 Castellitto – Claudio Damiani – Wlodek Goldkorn – Agnese Pini – Veronica Raimo – Silvia Ronchey (2022)
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