Giuseppe Pontiggia (; 25 September 1934 – 27 June 2003) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

writer and literary critic.

Biography

He was born in

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label= Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps h ...

, and moved to

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 ...

with his family in 1948. In 1959 he graduated from the Università Cattolica in Milan with a thesis on

Italo Svevo Aron Hector Schmitz (19 December 186113 September 1928), better known by the pseudonym Italo Svevo (), was an Italian writer, businessman, novelist, playwright, and short story writer. A close friend of Irish novelist and poet James Joyce, Svevo ...

. After a first unnoticed short story anthology published in 1959, Pontiggia, encouraged by

Elio Vittorini Elio Vittorini (; 23 July 1908 – 12 February 1966) was an Italian writer and novelist. He was a contemporary of Cesare Pavese and an influential voice in the modernist school of novel writing. His best-known work is the anti-fascist novel '' Co ...

, decided to devote himself entirely to writing starting from 1961. His first novel was ''L'arte della fuga'' of 1968. Pontiggia won the

Premio Strega The Strega Prize ( it, Premio Strega ) is the most prestigious Italian literary award. It has been awarded annually since 1947 for the best work of prose fiction written in the Italian language by an author of any nationality and first published ...

in 1989 with ''La grande sera'' and the

Premio Campiello The ''Premio Campiello'' is an annual Italian literary prize. A Jury of Literary Experts (''Giuria di letterati'' in Italian) identifies books published during the year and, in a public hearing, selects five of those as finalists. These books ar ...

in 2001 with ''Nati due volte''. He also wrote numerous articles and essays. He died in Milan in 2003 by a circulatory stroke. He was an atheist.Domenico Scafoglio, Felice Piemontese, ''L'invenzione della realtà'', Guida Editori, 1994, p. 121.

Bibliography

Essays

* '' Il giardino delle Esperidi'' (1984) * '' Le sabbie immobili'' (1991) * '' L'isola volante'' (1996) * '' I contemporanei del futuro'' (1998)

Novels and short story anthologies

* '' La morte in banca'' (1959) * '' L'arte della fuga'' (1968; 1990 revised) * '' Il giocatore invisibile'' (1978) * '' Il raggio d'ombra'' (1983) * '' La grande sera'' (1989) * '' Vite di uomini non illustri'' (1994) * '' Nati due volte'' (2000) * '' Prima persona'' (2002) * '' Il residence delle ombre cinesi'' (2003, posthumous)

References

External links

* Browse Pontiggia library catalogu

kept by

Biblioteca europea di informazione e cultura The (BEIC, "European library of information and culture") is an ongoing project based in Milan, Italy for the realization of a new modern library. It began in the late 1990s, when Antonio Padoa-Schioppa submitted the idea for the first time to the ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pontiggia, Giuseppe 1934 births 2003 deaths People from Como Italian atheists Italian literary critics Italian male non-fiction writers Strega Prize winners Premio Campiello winners