Luciano Bianciardi (1922-1971)
Luciano Bianciardi was born in Grosseto (Italy) on December 22nd, 1922. In 1940
he enrolled at the University of Pisa, but from 1943 to 1945 his studies were
interrupted by active service in World War II, after which he finally obtained a
degree in Philosophy.
After going back to his home town and getting married, he began working as
library director, teacher, journalist and writer. In 1954 he moved to Milan and
took on a job for the Feltrinelli Publishing House, and also started writing
novels. His first novel, "Il Lavoro Culturale", was published in 1957. In the
same year he lost his job at Feltrinelli and starts working as an
English-Italian translator.
Thanks to his work, all the major books in Anglo American contemporary
literature were published in Italy for the first time (Henry Miller, William
Faulkner, Norman Mailer and Saul Bellow are some of the authors whose works he
translated). In 1962 Bianciardi published his most important and popular book,
"La Vita Agra", which obtained immediate success and great critical acclaim, and
was turned into a film by Carlo Lizzani, starring Ugo Tognazzi.
He kept writing books as well as articles and editorials for several newspapers
and magazines until his death in 1971. |