Raffaele La Capria (3 October 1922 – 26 June 2022) was an Italian novelist and screenwriter.
His second novel, '' The Mortal Wound'' (''Ferito a morte''), won Italy's most prestigious award, the
Strega Prize
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 ...
, and is today considered a classic of Italian literature. Sandro Veronesi referred to it as "the best Italian novel of all time".
Biography
La Capria was born in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, where he was to spend the formative years of his life. There he graduated in law, before staying in France, England, and the United States and then settling in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. He contributed to the cultural pages of the '' Corriere della Sera'' and was co-director of the literary journal ''
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 ...
''. A particular interest was English poetry of the 1930s: as well as writing numerous articles he translated works including T. S. Eliot's ''
Four Quartets
''Four Quartets'' is a set of four poems written by T. S. Eliot that were published over a six-year period. The first poem, ''Burnt Norton'', was published with a collection of his early works (1936's ''Collected Poems 1909–1935''). After a f ...
''. In the 1950s he wrote and produced a number of radio programmes for
RAI
RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...
on foreign contemporary drama. In 1957 La Capria was invited to participate in the International Seminar of Literature at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
. In 1961 his novel ''Ferito a morte'' won the prestigious
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 ...
.
La Capria worked as co-scriptwriter on a number of
Francesco Rosi
Francesco Rosi (; 15 November 1922 – 10 January 2015) was an Italian film director. His film '' The Mattei Affair'' won the Palme d'Or at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival. Rosi's films, especially those of the 1960s and 1970s, often appeared to ha ...
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 ...
lifetime achievement award and in 2005 ''L'estro quotidiano'' was selected as the winner of the
Viareggio Prize
The Viareggio Prize ( it, Premio Viareggio, italic=no or ) is an Italian literary prize, first awarded in 1930. Named after the Tuscan city of Viareggio, it was conceived by three friends, , Carlo Salsa and Leonida Rèpaci, to rival the Milanes ...
for fiction.
La Capria was the widower of the actress
Un giorno d'impazienza
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...
'', Milano-Roma, Bompiani, 1952; 1976.
**(EN) ''A Day of impatience'' / ''First Affair'', translated by
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 ...
, Signet Books – New American Library, New York, 1955
* '' Ferito a morte'', Milano, Bompiani, 1961. (
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 ...
)
**(EN) ''The Mortal Wound'', translated by Marguerite Waldman, Farrar, Straus And Company, 1964.
* ''La finestra. Sceneggiatura televisiva'', con
Mario Soldati
Mario Soldati (17 November 1906 – 19 June 1999) was an Italian writer and film director. In 1954 he won the Strega Prize for ''Lettere da Capri.'' He directed several works adapted from novels, and worked with leading Italian actresses, su ...
, in "Sipario", a. 18, n. 202, 1963, p. 59–69.
* '' Amore e psiche'', Milano, Bompiani, 1973. (
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 ...
Damiano Damiani
Damiano Damiani (23 July 1922 – 7 March 2013) was an Italian screenwriter, film director, actor and writer. Poet and director Pier Paolo Pasolini referred to him as "a bitter moralist hungry for old purity", while film critic Paolo Mereg ...
Premio Grinzane Cavour
The Grinzane Cavour Prize (1989–2009) was an Italian literary award established in 1982 by Francesco Meotto. The annual award ceremony took place in the medieval castle of Grinzane Cavour. The goal of the prize was to attract young people to re ...
)
* '' Letteratura e salti mortali'', postfazione di Alfonso Berardinelli, Milano, A. Mondadori, 1990. .
* '' Capri e non più Capri'', Milano, A. Mondadori, 1991. , (Premio Nazionale Rhegium Julii ).
**(EN) ''Capri and No Longer Capri'', Thunder's Mouth Press, United States, 2017.
* '' L'occhio di Napoli'', Milano, A. Mondadori, 1994. . (Premio Società dei Lettori, Lucca-Roma)
* ''Conversazione con Raffaele La Capria. Letteratura e sentimento del tempo'', con Paola Gaglianone, saggio critico di Raffaele Manica, Roma, Omicron, 1995. .
* '' L'apprendista scrittore'', a cura di Stefania Brazzoduro, Roma, minimum fax, 1996. .
* '' La mosca nella bottiglia. Elogio del senso comune'', Milano, Rizzoli, 1996. .
* '' Il sentimento della letteratura'', Milano, Mondadori, 1997. .
* ''Campania. Immagini del XIX secolo dagli archivi Alinari'', Firenze, Alinari, 1997. .
* '' Napolitan graffiti. Come eravamo'', Milano, Rizzoli, 1998. .
* '' Letteratura e libertà. Colloquio di Emanuele Trevi con Raffaele La Capria'', Roma, Liberal, 1999.
* '' Ultimi viaggi nell'Italia perduta'', Cava de' Tirreni, Avagliano, 1999. .
* '' Lo stile dell'anatra'', Milano, Mondadori, 2001. .
* '' Cinquant'anni di false partenze ovvero L'apprendista scrittore'', introduzione di Raffaele Manica, con un omaggio di Alfonso Berardinelli, Roma, minimum fax, 2002. .
* '' Me visto da lui stesso. Interviste 1970–2001 sul mestiere di scrivere'', a cura di Silvio Perrella, Lecce, Manni, 2002. .
* '' Guappo e altri animali'', disegni di Giosetta Fioroni, Lugo, Associazione Culturale Il Bradipo, 2003.
* ''Opere'', a cura e con un saggio introduttivo di Silvio Perrella, Milano, A. Mondadori, 2003. . [contiene ''False partenze'' (scelta) – ''Tre romanzi di una giornata''; ''Colapesce''; ''Fiori giapponesi''; ''La neve del Vesuvio''; ''L'armonia perduta''; ''Capri e non più Capri'' (scelta); ''Ultimi viaggi nell'Italia perduta'' (scelta); ''L'occhio di Napoli'' (scelta); ''Letteratura e salti mortali''; ''Il sentimento della letteratura''; ''La mosca nella bottiglia''; ''Lo stile dell'anatra'']; nuova ed. rivista e accresciuta in due tomi, Milano, A. Mondadori, 2014. . [Contiene: ''False partenze''; ''Il mito della bella giornata''; ''Roma''; ''Altre false partenze''; ''I ritorni a Napoli''; ''Fiori giapponesi''; ''Letteratura, senso comune e passione civile''; ''L'amorosa inchiesta''; ''Esercizi superficiali''; ''Me visto da lui stesso'']
* ''Palazzo Donn'Anna. La memoria immaginativa'', Napoli, Electa Napoli, 2004. .
* ''Positano in prosa'', con
Riccardo Bacchelli
Riccardo Bacchelli (; 19 April 1891 – 8 October 1985) was an Italian writer. In 1927 he was one of the founders of the review ''La Ronda'' and Bagutta Prize for literature. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature eight times.
Care ...
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 ...
Premio Viareggio
The Viareggio Prize ( it, Premio Viareggio, italic=no or ) is an Italian literary prize, first awarded in 1930. Named after the Tuscan city of Viareggio, it was conceived by three friends, , Carlo Salsa and Leonida Rèpaci, to rival the Milanes ...
)
* ''Racconti. Passeggiata con clementina. Ultima passeggiata con Guappo'', disegni di Lucio del Pezzo, Bagreria, Drago Artecontemporanea, 2005.
* '' L'amorosa inchiesta'', Milano, A. Mondadori, 2006. .
* '' 4 storie d'amore'', illustrazioni di
Mimmo Paladino
Mimmo Paladino (born Paduli, 18 December 1948) is an Italian sculptor, painter and printmaker. He is a leading name in the Transvanguardia artistic movement and one of the many European artists to revive Expressionism in the 1980s.
Biography
...
Enrico Job
Enrico is both an Italian masculine given name and a surname, Enrico means homeowner, or king, derived from ''Heinrich'' of Germanic origin. It is also a given name in Ladino. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Henri ( French), ...
, San Cesario di Lecce, Manni, 2008. .
* ''L'apprendista giornalista (1958–2008)'', San Marco in Lamis, Istituto d'istruzione secondaria superiore "Pietro Giannone"-Centro documentazione Leonardo Sciascia/Archivio del Novecento, 2008.
* '' A cuore aperto'', Milano, Mondadori, 2009. .
* '' America 1957, a sentimental journey'', Roma, Nottetempo, 2009. .
* '' Un amore al tempo della Dolce Vita'', Roma, Nottetempo, 2009. .
* ''Napoli'', Milano, Oscar Mondadori, 2009. . ontiene ''L'armonia perduta''; ''L'occhio di Napoli''; ''Napolitan graffiti''/small>
* '' Confidenziale. Lettere dagli amici'', Padova, Il notes magico, 2011. .
* '' Quando la mattina scendevo in piazzetta'', Capri, La Conchiglia, 2011. .
* ''La nostalgia della bellezza'', Milano, Pagine d'arte, 2011. . rani scelti da ''La mosca nella bottiglia''* '' Esercizi superficiali. Nuotando in superficie'', Milano, Mondadori, 2012. .
* ''Doppio misto'', Milano, Mondadori, 2012. .
* ''La lezione del canarino'', Milano, Il Sole 24 Ore, 2012. [contiene: ''Il peccato originale''; La farfalla''; La civettina''; Il gufo reale''; Il ciuchino''; Una visita allo zoo''; Il gabbiano''; ''Il granchio''; ''Il polpo''; ''Gli avvoltoi''; ''Cartoni animati''; ''Il gatto''; ''Lo scoiattolo''; ''La bassotta''; ''L'ultima passeggiata con Guappo''; ''Caro Guappo''; ''Il pavone''; ''La lezione del canarino'']
* ''Capri. L'isola il cui nome è iscritto nel mio'', con Lorenzo Capellini, Argelato, Minerva, 2012. .
* ''Novant'anni d'impazienza. Un'autobiografia letteraria'', Roma, minimum fax, 2013. .
* ''Umori e malumori. Diario 2012–2013'', Roma, Nottetempo, 2013. .
* '' La bellezza di Roma'', Milano, Mondadori, 2014. .
* ''Introduzione a me stesso'', Roma, Elliot, 2014. .
* ''Il guarracino che andava per mare'', con un'opera di Massimo Nota e una nota di Silvio Perrella, Napoli, ilfilodipartenope, 2014.
* ''Storia di un'amicizia tra uno scrittore e un lettore. Lettere 1995–2001'', con Beppe Agosti, Milano, Archinto, 2014. .
* ''Al bar'', con
Umberto Silva Umberto is a masculine Italian given name. It is the Italian form of Humbert. People with the name include:
* King Umberto I of Italy (1844–1900)
* King Umberto II of Italy (1904–1983)
* Prince Umberto, Count of Salemi (1889–1918)
* Umberto ...
, Roma, Nottetempo, 2015. .
* ''Ai dolci amici addio'', Roma, Nottetempo, 2016. .
* ''Interviste con alieni'', Salò, Damiani, 2016. .
* ''L'isola il cui nome è iscritto nel mio '', Argelato, Minerva, 2016. .
* ''Il fallimento della consapevolezza'', Milano, Mondadori, 2018. .
* ''Di terra e mare'', con Silvio Perrella, Bari-Roma, Laterza, 2018. .
* ''La vita salvata. Conversazioni con Giovanna Stanzione'', Milano, Mondadori, 2020. .