Giovanni Arpino
Giovanni Arpino was an influential Italian author and journalist, born in 1927 in Pola, now part of Croatia. He spent much of his life in the Langhe region of Piedmont and had a notable career that intertwined journalism with fiction writing. Arpino's literary debut came in 1952 with his novel "Sei stato felice, Giovanni," set in the slums of Genoa and characterized by a neorealistic style that reflected his socio-political context. Over the next decade, he wrote extensively, producing seven major novels that explored themes of post-World War II reconstruction, contrasting rural life with the challenges of urban existence. Notable works include "La suova giovane," which features a strong female protagonist seeking independence, and "Il buio e il miele," which was adapted into the acclaimed film "Scent of a Woman."
In addition to novels, Arpino published poetry and contributed to soccer journalism, viewing the sport as a metaphor for broader societal relationships. His contributions to literature earned him prestigious accolades, including the Strega Prize and the Campiello Prize. Despite his significant impact, Arpino's work is often considered undervalued within the post-war Italian literary landscape due to its unique style and thematic complexity. He passed away in 1987, leaving behind a diverse body of work that continues to resonate with readers today.
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Giovanni Arpino
Writer
- Born: January 27, 1927
- Birthplace: Pola, Italy (now in Croatia)
- Died: December 10, 1987
- Place of death: Turin, Italy
Biography
Giovanni Arpino was born in 1927 in Pola, then part of Italy and now part of Croatia. His family eventually moved to the Langhe region of the Piedmont, south of Turin, where he spent most of his life. He edited the prestigious Italian newspapers Il Giornoand La Stampa,, and throughout his career he combined journalism with fiction writing. Arpino’s first novel, Sei stato felice, Giovanni, was published in 1952 and set in the slums of Genoa. The novel is the tale of Giovanni, a picaresque hero, and features fast-paced dialogue and a mildly Marxist ideology that demonstrates the influences of its time. The tone is dry, and the literary style is neorealistic.
Arpino spent a decade writing poetry and published two volumes of verse, Barbaresco in 1954 and Il prezzo dell’oro in 1957. After a brief stint in 1958 as codirector of the magazine Tempo, he returned to fiction and wrote seven major novels within ten years. The novels are about the rebuilding of Italy after World War II, contrasting rural life with the destructiveness of life in industrial Turin and other cities. City life in these novels is characterized by entrapment, enemies, and few friends; the rural peasants are not idealized but their lives have a pattern within the cycle of the seasons. Arpino’s protagonists are unpredictable, often with strange value systems. He explores the abnormalities behind apparent normalities.
One of his better-known novels is La suova giovane (1959), which was translated into English in 1963 as The Novice. The novel is the tale of Serena, a nun, who is unusual among Arpino’s women characters because she is not devoted to a man and seeks independence from her family and nunnery. Perhaps Arpino’s most famous novel is Il buio e il miele (1969), which was made into an Italian motion picture, Profumo di donna, in 1991, and was adapted as Scent of a Woman, an American film released in 1992.
In his later years, Arpino became interested in soccer journalism, seeing soccer as a metaphor for the outside world, especially in terms of relationships, which he believed gave life its meaning. Arpino continued to write novels, poetry, and short stories, with his short stories published in two collections, Raccontami una storia (1982) and Un gran mare di gente 1984. He won the 1964 Strega Prize for L’ombra delle colline and the 1980 Campiello Prize for Il fratello italiano. Arpino died in 1987. His work has been undervalued among post-World War II Italian authors because his writing belonged to no particular school and his work is difficult to classify.