Carlo Emilio Gadda

Carlo Emilio Gadda (1893-1973) is an Italian writer of the 20th century. He belongs to the tradition of the language innovators, writers that played with the somewhat stiff standard pre-war Italian language, and added elements of dialects, technical jargon and wordplay. Another writer that did this was the nobleman Tommaso Landolfi.

Related Topics:
1893 - 1973 - Italian - Writer - 20th century - Italian language - Dialect - Jargon - Tommaso Landolfi

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Gadda was a practising engineer from Milan, and he both loved and hated his job. Critics have compared him to other writers with a scientific background, such as Primo Levi, Robert Musil and Thomas Pynchon--a similar spirit of exactitude pervades some of Gadda's books.

Related Topics:
Engineer - Milan - Primo Levi - Robert Musil - Thomas Pynchon

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Carlo Emilio Gadda was born in Milan in 1893, and he was always intensely Milanese, although late in his life Florence and Rome also became an influence (Gadda's nickname is Il Gran Lombardo, The Great Lombard). His father died, leaving the family in reduced economic conditions; Gadda's mother, however, never tried to adopt a cheaper style of life. The paternal business ineptitude and the maternal obsession for keeping "face" and appeareances turn up strongly in La cognizione del dolore.

Related Topics:
Milan - Florence - Rome - Lombard

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He studied in , and while studying at the Politecnico (a university specialized in engineering and architecture), he volunteered for World War I. During the war he was taken prisoner and his brother was killed in a plane--his brother's death features prominently in La cognizione del dolore.

Related Topics:
Politecnico - University - World War I

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After the war, in 1920, Gadda finally graduated. He practiced as an engineer until 1935, spending three of these years in Argentina. The country at that time was experiencing a booming economy, and Gadda used the experience for the fictional South American-cum-Brianza setting of La Cognizione del Dolore. After that, in the 1940s, he dedicated himself to literature. These were the years of fascism, that founnd him a grumbling and embittered pessimist. With age, his bitterness and misanthropy somewhat intensified--one of his less amiable tracts was misery.

Related Topics:
Argentina - Brianza - 1940s - Literature - Fascism - Pessimist - Misanthropy

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Gadda kept writing until his death, in 1973. The most important critic of Gadda was Gianfranco Contini.

Related Topics:
Critic - Gianfranco Contini

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