Contemporary Italian writers

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Which ones are tasty?

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 00:00 (twenty-one years ago)

How contemporary do you mean? Italo Calvino's the best Italian writer that springs immediately to mind, but he died in 1985.

― selfnoise, Wednesday, 1 September 2004 11:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Surely there are some alive ones!

― MikeyG (MikeyG), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 12:29 (twenty-one years ago)

sorry I don't read much Italian Literature, but I know of a few names that are particularly appreciated here, even though I don't know how many among them have been translated:

- obviously Umberto Eco (with a new novel out this summer)
- Andrea Camilleri (he has created this "detective series" about a police officer in Sicily, but apart from the genre the guy is a real writer, the prose is beautiful and he also wrote a few historical novels - which are splendid - using Sicilian dialect which I'm sure is very difficult to translate)
- Alessandro Baricco (mellow but fashionable at times)
- Stefano Benni (hilarious satire on Italian ways and politics)
- Margaret Mazzantini (a film was made out of one her novels the title of which would translate DO NOT MOVE)

But I'll be back with more once I've been in a bookshop and have had a proper look around

― misshajim (strand), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 13:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Just thought of Niccolo Ammaniti, who wrote "I'm not scared". I've heard a lot of recommends for that one. (I think there's a movie as well)

― selfnoise, Wednesday, 1 September 2004 13:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, has anyone seen the movie version? I have it on DVD here at work and I'm not sure whether to take it home to watch or not.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 13:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I read Fango (Mud) by Niccolò Ammaniti: pulp + splatter, didn't like it. but I don't know about I'm not scared (neither the film nor the movie)

― misshajim (strand), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 13:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Leonardo Sciascia (d. 1989) - Sicilian detective fiction. I'd start with A Ciascuno Il Suo (To Each His Own) or Todo Modo (One Way or Another). I found the former hard to get in translation, but Amazon's got the 1992 ed. and claims to dispatch it within 24 hours. The man on the cover appears to have a pornstar moustache.

― Madchen (Madchen), Monday, 6 September 2004 10:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Sciascia is great, but unfortunately dead...among contemporary authors who are also unfortunately dead I suggest Elsa Morante (been in the library and found English translation of all her novels) History, Arthur's Island...

― misshajim (strand), Monday, 6 September 2004 14:39 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm surprised that no one mentioned the great Paolo Maurensig, easily the best (living, and fairly young besides) writer Italy has got today....

His novels tend to be short, suspenseful, written in a brilliant style and with not-easily-surpassed mastery of the italian language...

I especially recommend the Luneburg Variation and Canone Inverso (the latter was made into a film a couple of years ago...)

― Vaudevillian007, Wednesday, 8 September 2004 05:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Oooh, thank you! He looks great!

By the way, if whoever recommended Daniel Pennac is listening to this thread, THANK YOU SO MUCH, I'[ve been dying for a really funny French writer...

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Thursday, 9 September 2004 22:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Contemporary Italian writers? I would suggest Wu Ming (former Luther Blissett, but these are fake names for a bunch of young writers working collectively) and Massimo Carlotto (his latest book is great). But I don't know if they have been tranlated into english.

― jazzy, Friday, 17 September 2004 09:05 (twenty-one years ago)

That's OK, I'm trying to learn Italian. Read question is: can I get them in this godforsaken hell-pod of a "city"!

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Friday, 17 September 2004 22:09 (twenty-one years ago)

twenty-one years pass...

The wife has asked for Italian novels featuring sumptuous mansions by the sea, sprawling gardens, y'know first Ripley novel type settings. We've already done The Leopard for book club and the one title that sprang to mind (The Garden Of The Finzi-Continis) turned out to be about the holocaust, so not really suited for what she's looking for. Anyone have ideas?

― a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Wednesday, 22 October 2025 15:07 (three weeks ago)

More here to look through, just in case you haven't seen it.
I'm back with a HUGE PILE OF ITALIAN BOOKS!!!!!

― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 22 October 2025 15:56 (three weeks ago)

It's not contemporary, but Malombra by Antonio Fogazzaro might fit the bill. Most of the action takes place in and around a palazzo on Lake Como. Supposedly the first Italian gothic novel (1881), it's been adapted for film and television a few times. The supernatural horror elements are carefully developed but not very frightening. I enjoyed the lush romanticism of it all, including many long descriptive passages about the palazzo, its elaborate grounds, and points of scenic interest around the lake.

― Brad C., Wednesday, 22 October 2025 16:04 (three weeks ago)

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