Vasco Pratolini

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Vasco Pratolini (born October 19, 1913 in Florence , † January 12, 1991 in Rome ) was an Italian writer and screenwriter . His novels and stories belong to literary neorealism .

Life

Pratolini grew up in the popular district around the church of Santa Croce in Florence, where many of his novels later take place. Since his mother died early and his father served as a soldier in World War I, he lived with his grandparents and worked from an early age in various professions, including as a street seller, waiter and worker in a printing company. His literary interest was awakened by extensive reading; he later named Dostoevsky and Alfred Döblin as his most important influences.

Through his contacts with the painter Ottone Rosai and the writer Elio Vittorini , he came into contact with the literary atmosphere of Florence and began to write about politics and literature from 1934, first for the magazine Bargello and then for Letteratura . From 1935 to 1936 he was in a sanatorium because of tuberculosis. In 1937 he published his first short story Prima vita di sapienza in Letteratura magazine . In 1938 he and Alfonso Gatto founded the journal Campo di Marte , which was closely related to the literary trend of ermetismo and was banned by the fascist regime in 1939.

Tomb of Vasco Pratolini in Florence

From 1941 Pratolini was employed by the Italian Ministry of Education in Rome. In the same year he published his first volume of short stories, Il tappeto verde . Until the end of the war he also worked as a journalist and teacher in Milan and Naples. After he had sympathized with fascism as a youth , he took an active part in the Roman resistance under the code name Rodolfo Casati , and was close to the PCI after the war .

From 1951 he lived permanently in Rome. In 1957 he was awarded the Antonio Feltrinelli Prize . Vasco Pratolini died in 1991 after not having published any works for nearly 25 years. He is buried on the Cimitero delle Porte Sante in Florence.

plant

Pratolini's literary success began immediately after the war with the novels Il Quartiere (1945), Cronache di poveri amanti (1947) and Cronaca familiare (1947). In 1955 Metello appeared , for which Pratolini was awarded the Premio Viareggio . With the novels Lo scialo (1960) and Allegoria e derisione (1966) Metello forms the trilogy Una storia Italiana .

In his autobiographically influenced novels, Pratolini often describes simple, private stories that are interwoven with political trends and the war. The background is formed by the quarters and streets of the Florence of the common people, workers and petty bourgeoisie.

Several novels by Vasco Pratolini were made into films. He himself worked on scripts, for example, together with Federico Fellini on Paisà by Roberto Rossellini , Appunti su un fatto di cronaca and Rocco ei suoi fratelli , both by Luchino Visconti , and Le quattro giornate di Napoli (The Four Days of Naples) by Nanni Loy . The latter script was nominated for an Oscar in 1964 .

bibliography

  • Il tappeto verde , 1941 (German: The Green Carpet, 1991)
  • Via de 'Magazzini , 1942
  • Corpse , 1943
  • Il Quartiere , 1945 (German: Those from Santa Croce, 1967; Das Quartier, 1988)
  • Cronaca familiare , 1947 (German: Secret Diary, 1967; Chronicle of a Family, 1988)
  • Cronache di poveri amanti , 1947 (German: Chronicle of poor lovers, 1949)
  • Mestiere da vagabondo , 1947
  • Un eroe del nostro tempo , 1949 (German: Black Shadows, 1957)
  • Le ragazze di Sanfrediano , 1949 ( Eng .: The girls of Sanfrediano, 1990)
  • La domenica della povera gente , 1952
  • Lungo viaggio di natale , 1954
  • Il mio cuora a Ponte Milvio , 1954
  • Metello , 1955 (German: Metello, the mason, 1957)
  • Diario sentimentale , 1956
  • Lo scialo , 1960
  • La costanza della ragione , 1963 (German: In the streets of Florence, 1968)
  • Allegoria e derisione , 1966
  • La mia città ha trent'anni , 1967
  • Il mantello di Natascia , 1985

Filmography (selection)

script
Literary template
  • 1954: Chronicle of poor lovers ( Cronache di poveri amanti ) - directed by Carlo Lizzani
  • 1955: The beautiful girls of Florence ( Le ragazze di Sanfrediano ) - Director: Valerio Zurlini
  • 1962: Diary of a Sinner ( Cronaca familiare ) - Director: Valerio Zurlini
  • 1964: Under the sky of Florence ( La costanza della ragione ) - directed by Pasquale Festa Campanile
  • 1970: Metello - Directed by Mauro Bolognini
  • 1973: Diary of an Italian ( Diario di un italiano )

Web links

Commons : Vasco Pratolini  - collection of images, videos and audio files