Beppe Fenoglio

Beppe Fenoglio (Italian pronunciation: [ˈbɛppe feˈnɔʎʎo]; born Giuseppe Fenoglio 1 March 1922 in Alba (CN) – 18 February 1963 in Turin) was an Italian writer, partisan and translator from English. His major works was published in a critical edition after his death, but controversy remains about his book Il partigiano Johnny (translated as Johnny the Partisan), often considered his best work, which was published posthumously (and incomplete) in 1968.

The works of Fenoglio have two main themes: the rural world of the Langhe and the partisan war; equally, the writer has two styles: the chronicle and the epos. His first work was in the neorealist style: La paga del sabato (this was published posthumously too, in 1969).

The novel was turned down by Elio Vittorini, who advised Fenoglio to carve out stories and then incorporate them into I ventitré giorni della città di Alba ("The twenty-three days of the city of Alba") (1952). These stories were a chronicle of the Italian partisans or of rural life. One such story was La malora (1954), a long story in the style of Giovanni Verga.

Fenoglio died in Turin, at only 41 years, from cancer of the bronchus.

Works

• L'affare dell'anima e altri racconti
• Appunti partigiani : '44-'45
• Una crociera agli antipodi e altri racconti fantastici
• Un giorno di fuoco
• L'imboscata
• Lettere : 1940-1962
• La paga del sabato
• La voce nella tempesta (theatre drama from Wuthering Heights)
• Il partigiano Johnny. Translated as "Johnny the Partisan", 1995.
• La malora Translated as "Ruin", 1995.
• Primavera di bellezza : romanzo
• Una questione privata. Translated as "A Private Matter", 1988 and "A Private Affair", 2007.
• I ventitré giorni della città di Alba. Translated as "The Twenty-three Days of the City of Alba", 2002.