Ernesto Ferrero
Ernesto Ferrero (* 1938 in Turin ) is an Italian writer and literary critic . Since 1998 he has been director of the Turin International Book Fair .
biography
From 1963 to 1989 Ferrero worked for the Turin-based Einaudi publishing house, first as press officer, then as editor-in-chief and from 1984 to 1989 as editor-in-chief. In these functions he associated with numerous authors ( Elio Vittorini , Italo Calvino , Natalia Ginzburg , Norberto Bobbio , Massimo Mila , Franco Venturi , Giulio Bollati and others). Afterwards he was general manager at the publishing house Bollati Boringhieri , managing editor at Garzanti- Verlag and editor-in-chief at Mondadori .
Ferrero's areas of interest are linguistics , literary criticism and history . In 1972 he published his first book I gerghi della mala dal '400 a oggi ( Eng : The jargons of the criminal world from the 15th century to today ), which received the Premio Viareggio for the best first work and in 1991 in the expanded edition Dizionario storico dei gerghi italiani ( Historical Dictionary of Italian Jargons ) appeared.
As a critic, he dealt mainly with Carlo Emilio Gadda (1972), Italo Calvino (1995) and Primo Levi (1997). He also edited The Dialogue Between Primo Levi and Tullio Regge (1984) and wrote a biography of Gilles de Rais , better known as King Bluebeard , (1975; extended new edition 1998).
He made his narrative debut in 1980 with the novel Cervo Bianco ( White Deer ), which is based on the true story of a false Indian chief who cast a spell over the Italians in 1924. In 2000 he received the Premio Strega for the novel N. , which reconstructs Napoleon's 300 days in exile on Elba from the perspective of his librarian. The story was translated into many languages and filmed in 2006 by Paolo Virzì in N (Io e Napoleone) . In 2002 he published the short essay Lezioni napoleoniche ( Napoleonic Lessons ) on Napoleon's organizational and methodological skills . His theater monologue Elisa (2002) deals with Elisa Bonaparte , the sister of the French emperor, Grand Duchess of Tuscany and Duchess of Lucca .
In the following novel I migliori anni della nostra vita (2005) he looks back at the literary cultural life of Italy, the focus of which was Giulio Einaudi from 1963 to 1975, the year of Pier Paolo Pasolini's death . This sparked a lively debate in Italy about the role of the Turin publisher.
Ferrero has also translated French novels into Italian: Louis-Ferdinand Céline's Voyage au bout de la nuit and Casse-pipe as well as Gustave Flaubert's Bouvard et Pécuchet . As a columnist, he works and publishes for the daily newspapers La Stampa and Il Sole 24 Ore and for the cultural programs of the Italian television station RAI .
Works
Literary criticism / essays
- I gerghi della mala dal '400 a oggi . Mondadori, Milan 1972; awarded the first prize of the Premio Viareggio
- Carlo Emilio Gadda . Mursia, Milan 1972
- Barbablù. Gilles de Rais e il tramonto del Medioevo . Einaudi, Turin 1975 (new edition 2004)
- Dizionario storico dei gerghi italiani . Mondadori, Milan 1991
- Album Calvino . Mondadori, Milan 1995 (co-editor: Luca Baranelli)
- Primo Levi: un'antologia della critica . Einaudi, Turin 1997
- Lezioni napoleoniche. Sulla natura degli uomini, le tecniche del buon governo e l'arte di gestire le sconfitte . Mondadori, Milan 2002
prose
- L'ottavo nano . (Children's novel) Einaudi, Turin 1972 (new edition Piemme Junior, Alessandria 2004)
- Cervo Bianco . (Roman) Mondadori, Milan 1980
- N. (Roman) Einaudi, Turin 2000; awarded the Premio Strega 2000
- L'anno dell'Indiano . (Novel) Einaudi, Turin 2001
- Elisa . (Theater monologue) Sellerio, Palermo 2002
- I migliori anni della nostra vita . Feltrinelli, Milan 2005
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ferrero, Ernesto |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian author and literary critic |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1938 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Turin |