John Fante
John Fante (born April 8, 1909 in Denver , Colorado , † May 8, 1983 in Woodland Hills , Los Angeles ) was an American writer of Italian descent.
Life
John Fante grew up in Colorado as the son of Italian immigrants. In 1932 John Fante published his first short story. He was promoted by the critic Henry Louis Mencken , with whom a long-lasting correspondence developed. In 1938 Fante's first novel “ Wait until Spring, Bandini ” appeared and in 1939 the sequel “ Ask the Dust ” (German: “I - Arturo Bandini”). This novel had a great influence on the American poet and writer Charles Bukowski , who later said of his role model: Fante was my God.
"Ask the Dust" tells the story of Arturo Bandini of Italian origin, who tried to live as a writer in Los Angeles in the 1930s . He drinks, is always broke and then falls in love with the waitress Camilla - a love that turns into a love-hate relationship.
After “Ask the Dust” further novels appeared , but they could not build on the first success. In order to earn money, Fante then worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood. His screenplay " Full of Life " was nominated for an Oscar in 1952 .
In 1978 Fante went blind due to diabetes that had existed since 1959 ; as early as 1976 both legs had to be amputated. In 1982 he dictated the last novel "Dreams from Bunker Hill" to his wife Joyce. When he was dying in 1983, Charles Bukowski was one of the regular visitors to his hospital bed, he described his impressions in the poem "Death of a Role Model". It was only after his death that several other novels and collections of short stories were published.
Fantes writing style is characterized by clarity and proximity to colloquiality.
Honors
In Los Angeles, a square is named after John Fante. The PEN posthumously awarded him the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987 for his life's work.
Works
- Translated by Alex Capus : Arturo Bandini. The trilogy. Blumenbar, Berlin 2019
- Individual works
1. Wait until Spring, Bandini , 1938
- Translator. Alex Capus: Wait until spring, Bandini . 2004 ISBN 3-442-54196-4
- Übers. Kurt Pohl: Get out, Bandini . 1989 ISBN 3-442-09401-1
2. Ask The Dust , 1939
- Übers. Werner Waldhoff : Me, Arturo Bandini . Maro, 1982; again with foreword Charles Bukowski : Goldmann 1987 ISBN 3-442-08809-7 ; again 2003 ISBN 3-442-54185-9
3. Dreams from Bunker Hill , 1982
- Übers. Alex Capus: Waiting for miracles . Goldmann, Munich 2006 ISBN 978-3-442-46122-6
- Übers. Karl H. Mayer, Barbara Pohl: Waiting for miracles. Goldmann, Munich 1987 ISBN 3-442-08845-3
- Full Of Life , 1952
- Übers. Doris Engelke: Mixed feelings . 1992 ISBN 3-442-41193-9
- Übers. Doris Engelke: Full of life . 2018 ISBN 978-3-87512-482-8
- The Brotherhood of the Grape . 1977
- Übers. Michael Kirchert: Among brothers . 1987 ISBN 3-442-08919-0 ; again Maro, Augsburg 2019
- posthumously
- The Road to Los Angeles , 1985
- Übers. Doris Engelke: His way to Los Angeles . 1991 ISBN 3-442-09499-2
- 1933 Was a Bad Year , 1985
- It was a strange year . 1988 ISBN 3-442-09217-5
- Translator Alex Capus: 1933 was a bad year. 2016 ISBN 978-3-351-05031-3
- West of Rome , 1986
- Übers. Doris Engelke: West of Rome . 1990 ISBN 3-442-09785-1
- The wine of youth , 2002
- Übers. Kurt Pohl, Karl H. Mayer: A bride for Dino Rossi . 2002 ISBN 3-88288-017-1
- Correspondence
- John Fante, Henry Louis Mencken : A personal correspondence 1930 - 1952. Ed. Michael Moreau. Black Sparrow, Boston 1989
Film adaptations
- Literary template
- 1940: Doomed to Evil ( East of the River )
- 1956: All the longing of this world ( Full of Life )
- 1957: A heartbeat to eternity ( Jeanne Eagles )
- 1989: Wait Until Spring, Bandini ( Wait till Spring, Bandini )
- 2006: Written in the Dust ( Ask the Dust )
- 2019: Mon chien Stupide
- script
- 1961: On glowing patches ( Walk on the Wild Side )
- 1961: An odd saint ( The Reluctant Saint )
- 1966: Danger in the Valley of the Tigers ( Maya )
- 1967: Big John on Steam ( Something for a Lonely Man )
literature
- Michael Sailer : "Ask the dust." On the chaotic publication practice of the US writer John Fante on the occasion of some new editions, in Konkret , April 4, 2019, pp. 60f.
- Stephen Cooper: Full of Life. The John Fante biography. Translated by Esther Ghionda-Breger and Günter Ohnemus. MaroVerlag , Augsburg 2019
Web links
- Literature by and about John Fante in the catalog of the German National Library
- Short biography and reviews of works by John Fante at perlentaucher.de
- John Fante in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- John Fante in nndb (English)
- Dan Fante. To American Writer . Documentary Flavio Sciolè about the son of John Fante
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stephen Cooper: Full of Life. A Biography of John Fante, New York 2000, pp. 15f.
- ↑ Frank Schäfer: Rediscovery of John Fante: He questioned the dust . In: The daily newspaper: taz . August 3, 2019, ISSN 0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed December 3, 2019]).
- ↑ From: Red Mercedes (poems 1984–1986) .
- ↑ = Wait until Spring, Bandini; Ask the dust; Dreams from Bunker Hill
-
↑ For example, here are the different translations of a section from Dreams ... = Waiting for miracles , p. 60:
Fante: I went to the library. I looked at the magazines, at the pictures in them. One day I went to the bookshelves, and pulled out a book. It was 'Winesburg, Ohio'.
Mayer / Pohl: I went to the library. I looked at the magazines, the pictures in them. One day I went to the bookshelves and pulled out a book. It was 'Ohio' by Winesburg.
New translation by Capus: I went to the city library, leafed through magazines, looked at the pictures. One day I passed the bookshelves and pulled out a book. It was 'Winesburg, Ohio' by Sherwood Anderson .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Fante, John |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 8, 1909 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Denver , Colorado |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 8, 1983 |
| Place of death | Woodland Hills , Los Angeles |