Isabel Madeleine Quigly

FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

(17 September 1926 – 14 September 2018) was a writer, translator and

film critic Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, magazines and other popular mass-media outlets ...

Biography

She was born in Ontaneda, Spain, and educated at Godolphin School, Salisbury and

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sid ...

. In her early career, she worked for

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

. She served as literary editor of The Tablet from 1985 to 1997. She also contributed to numerous journals and newspapers, and served on the jury of various literary prizes including the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...

jury in 1986. In 1953, her first book, and only novel, ''The Eye of Heaven'', was published. Other books include ''The Heirs of Tom Brown: The English School Story'' and ''Charlie Chaplin: Early Comedies''. She has also translated more than 100 books from Italian, Spanish and French. Her most notable translations are Silvano Ceccherini's ''The Transfer'', for which, in 1967, she won the

John Florio Prize The John Florio Prize for Italian translation is awarded by the Society of Authors, with the co-sponsorship of the Italian Cultural Institute and Arts Council England. Named after the Tudor Anglo-Italian writer-translator John Florio, the prize wa ...

, and

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 ...

's ''The Garden of the Finzi-Continis''. According to Robin Healey's ''Twentieth-Century Italian Literature in English Translation'', Quigly was one of the top 10 translators of Italian literature of the last 70 years, alongside Archibald Colquhoun,

Patrick Creagh John Patrick Brasier-Creagh, best known as Patrick Creagh (23 October 1930 - 19 September 2012) was a British poet and translator.Angus Davidson,

Frances Frenaye Frances Frenaye (1908-1996) was an American translator of French and Italian literature.Eric Pace ''The New York Times'', April 15, 1998. She translated work by writers including Balzac, Carlo Levi, Ignazio Silone and Elie Wiesel. Works * Natal ...

, Stuart Hood,

Eric Mosbacher Eric Mosbacher (22 December 1903 – 2 July 1998) was an English journalist and translator from Italian, French, German and Spanish. He translated work by Ignazio Silone and Sigmund Freud.'Eric Mosbacher', ''The Times'', 10 July 1998, p.25 Life ...

Raymond Rosenthal Raymond B. Rosenthal (December 19, 1914 – July 24, 1995) was an American translator of Italian literature into the English language. He has translated the works of Primo Levi, Pietro Aretino, Aldo Busi, Piero Sanavio, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Pi ...

, Bernard Wall and

William Weaver William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

.Twentieth-century Italian Literature in English Translation, 1998
/ref> Quigly died in

Haywards Heath Haywards Heath is a town in West Sussex, England, south of London, north of Brighton, south of Gatwick Airport and northeast of the county town, Chichester. Nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the southwest, Horsham to the northwest, Crawl ...

in 2018.

Selected translations

* Silvano Ceccherini: The Transfer (John Florio Prize) * Giorgio Bassani: The Garden of the Finzi-Continis * Giorgio Bassani: A Prospect of Ferrara * Giorgio Bassani: The Gold-Rimmed Spectacles *

Alba de Céspedes Alba de Céspedes y Bertini (11 March 1911 – 14 November 1997) was a Cuban-Italian writer. Family De Céspedes was the daughter of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada (a Cuban ambassador to Italy)Nerenberg, Ellen. "Alba De Céspedes." Itali ...

: Between Then and Now * Alba de Céspedes: La Bambolona * Alba de Céspedes: The Secret * Antonio Cossu: The Sardinian Hostage *

Attilio Veraldi Attilio Veraldi (1925–1999) was an Italian novelist and translator. Biography Born in Naples, Veraldi started his career as a translator of hardboiled American novels. He made his writing debut in 1976, with the giallo In Italian cinema, ...

: The Payoff *

Carlo Cassola Carlo Cassola (17 March 1917 – 29 January 1987) was an influential Italian novelist and essayist. His novel ''La Ragazza di Bube'' (1960), which received the Strega Prize, was adapted into a film of the same name by Luigi Comencini in 1963. ...

: Fausto and Anna * Carlo Monterosso: The Salt of the Earth * Carlo Picchio: Freedom Fighter * Elena Bono: The Widow of Pilate *

Elsa Morante Elsa Morante (; 18 August 191225 November 1985) was an Italian novelist, poet, translator and children's books author. Her novel '' La storia'' (''History'') is included in the Bokklubben World Library List of 100 Best Books of All Time. Life a ...

: Arturo's Island *

Ercole Patti Ercole Patti (16 February 1903 – 15 November 1976) was an Italian writer, dramatist, screenwriter and journalist. Born in Catania into an upper-middle-class family, the nephew of author Giuseppe Villaroel, Patti started working as a journalist ...

: That Wonderful November *

Fabio Carpi Fabio Carpi (19 January 1925 – 26 December 2018) was an Italian director, screenwriter, and author. Life and career Born in Milan, in the 1940s Carpi began his career as a film critic for the newspapers ''Libera Stampa'' and ''L'Unità''. In ...

: The Abandoned Places * Fausta Cialente: The Levantines * Fortunato Seminara: The Wind in the Olive Grove * Giuliana Pandolfi Boldrini: The Etruscan Leopards *

Giuseppe Dessì Giuseppe Dessì (7 August 1909 – 6 July 1977) was an Italian novelist, short-story writer and playwright from Sardinia. His novel ''Paese d'ombre'' won the 1972 Strega Prize and was translated into English as ''The Forests of Norbio''. Dessì g ...

: The House at San Silvano *

Goffredo Parise Goffredo Parise (8 December 1929 in Vicenza – 31 August 1986 in Treviso) was an Italian writer, journalist, and screenwriter. He won the Viareggio Prize in 1965 for his novel ''Il padrone'' ''(The Boss)'' and the Strega Prize in 1982 for ''S ...

: Solitudes * Livia Svevo: Memoir of Italo Svevo *

Lorenza Mazzetti Lorenza Mazzetti (26 July 1927 – 4 January 2020) was an Italian film director, novelist, photographer and painter. Early life Mazzetti was born in Florence. Her mother, Olga Liberati, died shortly after giving birth to Lorenza and her twi ...

: Rage * Luigi Magnani: Beethoven's Nephew * Luigi Preti: Through the Fascist Fire * Michele Prisco: A Spiral of Mist * Nino Palumbo: The Bribe * Nino Palumbo: Tomorrow Will be Better * Oliviero Honore Bianchi: Devil's Night *

Oriana Fallaci Oriana Fallaci (; 29 June 1929 – 15 September 2006) was an Italian journalist and author. A partisan during World War II, she had a long and successful journalistic career. Fallaci became famous worldwide for her coverage of war and revolution ...

: Nothing, and So Be It * Renato Ghiotto: The Slave *

Sergio Donati Sergio Donati (born 13 April 1933) is an Italian screenwriter. He has written for more than 70 films since 1952. He was born in Rome, Italy. He started as a writer and had some of his books optioned for film. He is well known for his collaborati ...

: The Paper Tomb * Uberto Paolo Quintavalle: On the Make *

Georges Simenon Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer. He published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, and was the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret. Early life and education ...

: The Family Lie

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quigly, Isabel 1926 births 2018 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature 20th-century British translators Italian–English translators People educated at Godolphin School Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge British women writers 20th-century women writers