Una Chi (born Bruna Bianchi;

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 ...

, 5 June 1942 –

Cisternino Cisternino is a ''comune'' in the province of Brindisi in Apulia, on the coast of south-eastern Italy, approximately north-west of the city of Brindisi. Its main economic activities are tourism, the growing of olives and grapes, and dairy farming ...

, 19 January 2021) was an Italian translator and writer.

Life

Bruna Bianchi was born in

in 1942. For many years she was a professor of

German literature German literature () comprises those literature, literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy a ...

at the

University of Milan The University of Milan ( it, Università degli Studi di Milano; la, Universitas Studiorum Mediolanensis), known colloquially as UniMi or Statale, is a public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Europe ...

. She translated into Italian several German literature masterpieces, including

Günter Grass Günter Wilhelm Grass (born Graß; ; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in the Free City of Da ...

' ''From the Diary of a Snail'' (Aus dem Tagebuch einer Schnecke) (Einaudi,

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, 1974);

Max von der Grün Max von der Grün (; 25 May 1926 – 7 April 2005) was a Germans, German novelist. Max von der Grün was born in Sankt Georgen (Bayreuth) and grew up in Mitterteich. After a clerical apprenticeship, he became a paratrooper during World War II in ...

's ''Stellenweise Glatteis'' (''Strada sdrucciolevole'', Einaudi, 1977);

Max Frisch Max Rudolf Frisch (; 15 May 1911 – 4 April 1991) was a Swiss playwright and novelist. Frisch's works focused on problems of identity, individuality, responsibility, morality, and political commitment. The use of irony is a significant featur ...

's ''Bluebeard'' (Einaudi, 1984); and

Martin Walser Martin Walser (; born 24 March 1927) is a German writer. Life Walser was born in Wasserburg am Bodensee, on Lake Constance. His parents were coal merchants, and they also kept an inn next to the train station in Wasserburg. He described the ...

's ''Das Einhorn'' (''Unicorno'', Feltrinelli, 1969). She also translated works by

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...

and

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...

. In 1994 she published her first novel, ''E duro campo di battaglia il letto''. under the pseudonym Una Chi (Italian for "One Who"). She then authored three more

erotica Erotica is literature or art that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotic, sexually stimulating or sexually arousing. Some critics regard pornography as a type of erotica, but many consider it to be different. Erotic art may use a ...

books, mostly conspicuous for her scholarly and coldly analytical prose and the crudeness of her narrative. In 1999 she translated a revised Italian edition of Grass's ''

The Tin Drum ''The Tin Drum'' (german: Die Blechtrommel, ) is a 1959 novel by Günter Grass. The novel is the first book of Grass's ' (''Danzig Trilogy''). It was adapted into a 1979 film, which won both the 1979 Palme d'Or and the Academy Award for Best ...

'' (''Il tamburo di latta'').

Works

* 1994: ''E duro campo di battaglia il letto'', ES, 1994 ; * 1995: ''Il sesso degli angeli'', ES, 1995 ; * 1997: ''Ti vedo meglio al buio'', ES, 1998 ; * 2000: ''L'ultimo desiderio'', ES, 2000

References

External links

* 1942 births 2021 deaths Writers from Milan 20th-century Italian novelists 21st-century Italian novelists Italian women novelists 20th-century Italian women writers 21st-century Italian women writers Italian translators Women erotica writers Germanists Translators of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Translators of Thomas Mann Pseudonymous women writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers German–Italian translators {{Italy-writer-stub