Alessandro Spina (1927–2013) was the pen name of Basili Shafik Khouzam. Born in Benghazi into a family of Syrian

Maronites The Maronites ( ar, الموارنة; syr, ܡܖ̈ܘܢܝܐ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant region of the Middle East, whose members traditionally belong to the Maronite Church, with the largest ...

that originally hailed from

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, Khouzam was educated in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and published his first story in

Nuovi Argomenti ''Nuovi Argomenti'' is an Italian literary magazine which was started in 1953 in Rome. History and profile ''Nuovi Argomenti'' was founded by Alberto Carrocci and Alberto Moravia in Rome in 1953. Soon they were joined by Pier Paolo Pasolini. He ...

. Following his return to Benghazi in 1954, Khouzam spent the next twenty-five years managing his father's textile factory in Benghazi while continuing to write in his spare time. Khouzam eventually left Libya in 1979 and retired to Franciacorta, Italy. Khouzam was associated with various leading Italian writers of his time, including

Alberto Moravia Alberto Moravia ( , ; born Alberto Pincherle ; 28 November 1907 – 26 September 1990) was an Italian novelist and journalist. His novels explored matters of modern sexuality, social alienation and existentialism. Moravia is best known for his d ...

Giorgio Bassani Giorgio Bassani (4 March 1916 – 13 April 2000) was an Italian novelist, poet, essayist, editor, and international intellectual. Biography Bassani was born in Bologna into a prosperous Jewish family of Ferrara, where he spent his childhood wit ...

Vittorio Sereni Vittorio Sereni (27 July 1913 – 10 February 1983) was an Italian poet, author, editor and translator. His poetry frequently addressed the themes of 20th-century Italian history, such as Fascism, Italy's military defeat in World War II, and its ...

, and

Claudio Magris Claudio Magris (born 10 April 1939) is an Italian scholar, translator and writer. He was a senator for Friuli-Venezia Giulia from 1994 to 1996. Life Magris graduated from the University of Turin, where he studied German studies, and has been a ...

and his novels were published by various imprints such as

Mondadori Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy. History The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In 1 ...

and Garzanti. His major opus was ''I confini dell'ombra'', a sequence of eleven historical novels and short story collections that chart the history of his native city from the

Italo-Turkish War The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War ( tr, Trablusgarp Savaşı, "Tripolitanian War", it, Guerra di Libia, "War of Libya") was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911, to 18 October 1912. As a result o ...

in 1911 to the exploitation of Libya's vast oil reserves in 1964. Although Khouzam individually published each instalment of his epic throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the entire sequence was finally issued as a 1268-page omnibus edition by Morcelliana in 2006 and was then awarded the

Bagutta Prize The Bagutta Prize is an Italian literary prize that is awarded annually to Italian writers. The prize originated among patrons of Milan's ''Bagutta Ristorante''. The writer Riccardo Bacchelli discovered the restaurant and soon he regularly gathere ...

in 2007. His work has been compared to that of

Paul Bowles Paul Frederic Bowles (; December 30, 1910November 18, 1999) was an American expatriate composer, author, and translator. He became associated with the Moroccan city of Tangier, where he settled in 1947 and lived for 52 years to the end of his ...

and

Albert Cossery Albert Cossery (3 November 1913 – 22 June 2008) was an Egyptian-born French writer. Although Cossery lived most of his life in Paris and only wrote in the French language, all of his novels were either set in his country of birth, Egypt, or in ...

Bibliography

* ''Tempo e Corruzione'' (Garzanti, 1962) * ''I confini dell'ombra. In terra d'oltremare'' (Morcelliana, 2006) * ''Diario Di Lavoro: Alle Origini De I Confini Dell'ombra'' (Morcelliana, 2010) * ''L'ospitalità intellettuale'' (Morcelliana, 2012) * ''Elogio dell'inattuale'' (Morcelliana, 2013)

Translations

''I confini dell'ombra'' is currently being translated into English by André Naffis-Sahely as ''The Confines of the Shadow''. Volume 1 of 3 is available from

DARF Publishers Darf Publishers is an independent British publishing house established in London in 1980 focusing on publishing books on the Middle East, North Africa and the Arab World in English. Initially, most of Darf's books were facsimile editions of rare 1 ...

. Spina has also been translated into French. The first three novels of ''The Confines of the Shadow'' were translated by Gérard Genot as ''Triptyque Libyen'' (L'Âge d'Homme, 2013), while one of his short stories appeared in a translation by Michel Balzamo as ''Juin 1940'' (Éditions de L'Herne, 2009).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spina, Alessandro 1927 births 2013 deaths 20th-century Libyan writers 21st-century Libyan writers Italian historical novelists Libyan novelists Libyan people of Italian descent Postcolonial literature