Dino Buzzati-Traverso (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdiːno butˈtsaːti]; 14 October 1906 – 28 January 1972) was an Italian novelist, short story writer, painter and poet, as well as a journalist for Corriere della Sera. His worldwide fame is mostly due to his novel The Tartar Steppe, although he is also known for his well-received collections of short stories.

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Dino Buzzati
Born	14 October 1906 (1906-10-14) San Pellegrino di Belluno, Italy
Died	28 January 1972 (1972-01-29) (age 65) Milan, Italy
Occupation	Graphic artist, novelist, short story writer, journalist
Genre	Novel, short story
Notable works	The Tartar Steppe

Life

Buzzati was born at San Pellegrino, Belluno, in his family's ancestral villa. Buzzati's mother, a veterinarian by profession, was Venetian and his father, a professor of international law, was from an old Bellunese family. Buzzati was the second of his parents' four children. One of his brothers was the well-known Italian geneticist Adriano Buzzati-Traverso. In 1924, he enrolled in the law faculty of the University of Milan, where his father once taught. As he was completing his studies in law, he was hired, at the age of 22, by the Milanese newspaper Corriere della Sera, where he would remain until his death. He began in the corrections department, and later worked as a reporter, special correspondent, essayist, editor and art critic. It is often said that his journalistic background informs his writing, lending even the most fantastic tales an aura of realism.

Buzzati himself comments on the connection (as cited by Lawrence Venuti):

It seems to me, fantasy should be as close as possible to journalism. The right word is not "banalizing", although in fact a little of this is involved. Rather, I mean that the effectiveness of a fantastic story will depend on its being told in the most simple and practical terms.[1]

During World War II, Buzzati served in Africa, as a journalist attached to the Regia Marina. After the end of the war, Il deserto dei Tartari was published nationwide in Italy and quickly brought critical recognition and fame to the author. He married Almerina Antoniazzi in 1966, which also marked release of his last novel, Un amore. In 1972, Buzzati died of cancer after a protracted illness. He was an atheist.[2]

Works summary

Buzzati began writing fiction in 1933. His works of fiction include five novels, theatre and radio plays, librettos, numerous books of short stories and poetry. His librettos include four for operas by Luciano Chailly, as well as that of the opera La giacca dannata by Giulio Viozzi.

He wrote a children's book La famosa invasione degli orsi in Sicilia (translated by Frances Lobb into English as The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily). Lemony Snicket wrote an introduction and reader's companion to a 2005 English edition.

Also an acclaimed and exhibited artist, Buzzati combined his artistic and writerly exploits into making a comic book based on the myth of Orpheus, Poem Strip.

The Tartar Steppe, his most famous novel, tells the story of a military outpost that awaits a Tartar invasion. In its sentiment and its conclusions, it has been compared to existentialist works, notably Albert Camus's The Myth of Sisyphus.[3]

His writing is sometimes cited as magical realism, social alienation, and the fate of the environment and of fantasy in the face of unbridled technological progress are recurring themes. He wrote also a variety of short stories featuring fantastic animals such as the bogeyman and, his own invention, the colomber (il colombre). His Sessanta racconti short-story collection, which won the Strega Prize in 1958, features elements of science fiction, fantasy and horror throughout.[4][5]

Bibliography

• Bàrnabo delle montagne (1933). Barnabo of the Mountains, trans. Lawrence Venuti, included in The Siren (1984)
• Il segreto del Bosco Vecchio (1935). The Secret of the Old Woods
• Il deserto dei Tartari (1940). The Tartar Steppe, trans. Stuart C. Hood (Secker & Warburg, 1952); also as The Stronghold, trans. Lawrence Venuti (New York Review Books, 2023)
• I sette messaggeri (1942, short stories). The Seven Messengers
• La famosa invasione degli orsi in Sicilia (1945). The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily, trans. Frances Lobb (Pantheon, 1947)[6]
• In quel preciso momento (1950)
• Il crollo della Baliverna (1954)
• Sessanta racconti (1958, short stories). Sixty Stories
• Il grande ritratto (1960). Larger than Life, trans. Henry Reed (Secker & Warburg, 1962)
• Un amore (1963). A Love Affair, trans. Joseph Green (Farrar Straus, 1964)[7]
• Il capitano Pic e altre poesie (1965, poetry)
• Cacciatori di vecchio (1966, novel)
• Il colombre (1966, short stories)
• Poema a fumetti (1969, comic book). Poem Strip, trans. Marina Harss (New York Review Books, 2009)
• Il reggimento parte all'alba (1985, short stories). The Regiment Leaves at Dawn

Compilations in English

• Catastrophe and Other Stories, trans. Judith Landry and Cynthia Jolly (Calder, 1965)
• Restless Nights: Selected Stories of Dino Buzzati, trans. Lawrence Venuti (North Point Press, 1983)
• The Siren: A Selection from Dino Buzzati, trans. Lawrence Venuti (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1984)[8]

Awards and honors

• 1951: Gargano Prize, for In quel preciso momento
• 1954: Naples Prize, for Il crollo della Baliverna
• 1958: Strega Prize, for Sessanta racconti
• 1969: Paese Sera Prize, for Poema a fumetti
• 1970: All’Amalia Prize
• 1970: Mario Massai Prize

References

• Giuseppe Leone, "Dino Buzzati e le grandi "costruzioni" letterarie – La "fortezza di Bastiani" non è "Il castello" di Kafka", Il Punto Stampa, Lecco, Italy, April 1997.
• Luis Montiel (2010), “Una meditatio mortis contemporánea. La reflexión de Dino Buzzati sobre la caducidad de la vida humana”. Medicina e historia, 2/2010, 1–15.

External links

• Official website (in Italian)
• Dino Buzzati at IMDb
• Biography at the Wayback Machine (archived April 19, 2008) (in Italian)
• Il coraggio della bontà – Dino Buzzati e don Zeno Saltini: cronaca di un'amicizia
• Dino Buzzati et la Ville - Dino Buzzati and the city, the webpage of french artist Alexandre Nezeys Tacconi

На других языках

[fr] Dino Buzzati

[it] Dino Buzzati

[ru] Буццати, Дино