Items related to Full-Length Portrait
Gianna Manzini (1896-1974) is considered one of the most accomplished writers in Italy, praised by important literary critics and writers, and widely known by Italian readers. Her fiction has been compared closely with that of Virginia Woolf, Thomas Mann and Paul Valéry. It is well recognized that narrative in Italy began its "experiment of lyrical expression" with the appearance of Manzini's first novel, "Tempo innamorato." Her prize-winning bestseller "Full-Length Portrait" ("Ritratto in piedi") is a semi-autobiographical novel, first published in 1971, and presents a portrait of her father, Giuseppe Manzini. It took her nearly a lifetime to come to terms with her feelings for her father in order to write this book about him. A noted anarchist publisher, editor and author, who became alienated from his wife and daughter for his political beliefs, Giuseppe Manzini was imprisoned and finally exiled to a small town where he died after being attacked by a group of local Fascists. Manzini weaves a poetic portrait of the relationship between father and daughter, revealing a deep and binding devotion yet highlighting all the personal, political and even literary tensions between them: his "arrow straight" pursuit of clarity versus her "acrobatic" pursuit of literature; his attempt to touch the core truth of life and her attempt to see through to the "life behind life." Martha King is the editor with Italica Press of "New Italian Women" and "After the War," collections of twentieth-century Italian women writers, and has also translated numerous works by these writers.With Italica Press Dr. King previously published Manzini's "Game Plan for a Novel" ("Lettere all' Editore: Giuoco di carte"), the first English translation of a Manzini novel.
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About the Author:
Gianna Manzini (Pistoia, March 24, 1896 – Rome, August 31, 1974) was an Italian writer whose childhood was spent in the anxious company of her mother’s family who disapproved of her anarchist father and caused her parents to separate. Manzini moved to Florence with her mother in 1916, to finish high school and attend the university, preparing to be a teacher. She taught school for only a few months before the first chapter of her novel “Tempo inamorato” appeared in the Florentine newspaper, “La Nazione,” in 1924. This novel, published in 1928, was praised by Eugenio Montale for its “intelligence” and “rare sensitivity.” With her short-story “Passeggiata,” published in 1929, she began her collaboration with the periodical "Solaria," whose mission was to bring into Italian letters the stimulus of innovative European writers such as Marcel Proust, André Gide, Virginia Woolf, and James Joyce, and Americans such as Ernest Hemingway. This “solarium” was in reaction to the prevailing canon that championed the preservation of Italian classical literary tradition, expressed by Alessandro Manzoni and Giacomo Leopardi. Manzini married the literary critic of “La Nazione,” Bruno Fallaci, in 1930, a marriage doomed to early failure. Fallaci transferred to Milan in 1933 to write for “Corriere della sera.” Manzini unceasingly reveals so much of herself in her writing: her literary intentions, failings, regrets, doubts, and memories. She is imprecise or contradictory about the specifics of her life. Sometime in the mid 1930’s Manzini met the well-known literary critic, Enrico Falqui, and moved to Rome where they lived until his death in March 1974, preceding her death only by a few months. The move to Rome affected her personally and stylistically, as she recounts in "Lettera al editore: Game Plan for a Novel." Her works appeared in numerous periodicals. Recognition for her writing grew with literary prizes awarded for "Lettera all’editore" (Premio Costume 1945), "Valtzer del diavolo" (Premio Soroptimist 1953), "La Sparviera" (Premio Viareggio 1956), "Un’altra cosa" (Premio Marzotto 1951), "Allegro con disperazione" (Premio Napoli 1968), and finally her last novel, "Ritratto in piedi," was awarded the prestigious Premio Campiello in 1971. Afflicted from childhood with lung weakness and a cough, and finally dependent on oxygen, she died in Rome on August 31, 1974, five months after the death of her long-time companion.
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- PublisherItalica Press, Inc.
- Publication date2011
- ISBN 10 1599102366
- ISBN 13 9781599102368
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages190
- Rating
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