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Cesare Pavese

Born

in Santo Stefano Belbo, Italy

September 09, 1908

Died

August 27, 1950

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction

Influences

Herman Melville, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Walt Whitman ...more

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Cesare Pavese was born in a small town in which his father, an official, owned property. He attended school and later, university, in Turin. Denied an outlet for his creative powers by Fascist control of literature, Pavese translated many 20th-century American writers in the 1930s and '40s: Sherwood Anderson, Gertrude Stein, John Steinbeck, John Dos Passos, Ernest Hemingway, and William Faulkner; a 19th-century writer who influenced him profoundly, Herman Melville (one of his first translations was of Moby Dick); and the Irish novelist James Joyce. He also published criticism, posthumously collected in La letteratura americana e altri saggi (1951; American Literature, Essays and Opinions, 1970). His work probably did more to foster the read Cesare Pavese was born in a small town in which his father, an official, owned property. He attended school and later, university, in Turin. Denied an outlet for his creative powers by Fascist control of literature, Pavese translated many 20th-century American writers in the 1930s and '40s: Sherwood Anderson, Gertrude Stein, John Steinbeck, John Dos Passos, Ernest Hemingway, and William Faulkner; a 19th-century writer who influenced him profoundly, Herman Melville (one of his first translations was of Moby Dick); and the Irish novelist James Joyce. He also published criticism, posthumously collected in La letteratura americana e altri saggi (1951; American Literature, Essays and Opinions, 1970). His work probably did more to foster the reading and appreciation of U.S. writers in Italy than that of any other single man.

A founder and, until his death, an editor of the publishing house of Einaudi, Pavese also edited the anti-Fascist review La Cultura. His work led to his arrest and imprisonment by the government in 1935, an experience later recalled in “Il carcere” (published in Prima che il gallo canti, 1949; in The Political Prisoner, 1955) and the novella Il compagno (1947; The Comrade, 1959). His first volume of lyric poetry, Lavorare stanca (1936; Hard Labour, 1976), followed his release from prison. An initial novella, Paesi tuoi (1941; The Harvesters, 1961), recalled, as many of his works do, the sacred places of childhood. Between 1943 and 1945 he lived with partisans of the anti-Fascist Resistance in the hills of Piedmont.

The bulk of Pavese's work, mostly short stories and novellas, appeared between the end of the war and his death. Partly through the influence of Melville, Pavese became preoccupied with myth, symbol, and archetype. One of his most striking books is Dialoghi con Leucò (1947; Dialogues with Leucò, 1965), poetically written conversations about the human condition. The novel considered his best, La luna e i falò (1950; The Moon and the Bonfires, 1950), is a bleak, yet compassionate story of a hero who tries to find himself by visiting the place in which he grew up. Several other works are notable, especially La bella estate (1949; in The Political Prisoner, 1955).

Shortly after receiving the Strega Prize for it, Pavese took his own life in his hotel room by taking an overdose of pills.
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Combine Editions
Cesare Pavese’s books

Average rating: 3.81 · 81,184 ratings · 5,362 reviews · 315 distinct works • Similar authors

	La luna e i falò 3.77 avg rating — 16,440 ratings — published 1950 — 199 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	La bella estate 3.47 avg rating — 9,385 ratings — published 1949 — 136 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	La casa in collina 3.70 avg rating — 7,178 ratings — published 1948 — 34 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dialoghi con Leucò by Cesare Pavese, Sergio Givone (Foreword), Salvatore Ritrovato (Editor) 4.17 avg rating — 2,790 ratings — published 1947 — 17 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Il mestiere di vivere: Diario 1935-1950 by Cesare Pavese, Laura Nay (Editor), Marziano Guglielminetti (Editor) 4.20 avg rating — 2,364 ratings — published 1952 — 67 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Verrà la morte e avrà i tuoi occhi 4.37 avg rating — 2,200 ratings — published 1951 — 23 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Tra donne sole by Cesare Pavese, Italo Calvino (Contributor) 3.51 avg rating — 2,268 ratings — published 1949 — 66 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Il diavolo sulle colline 3.69 avg rating — 1,692 ratings — published 1949 — 61 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Paesi tuoi 3.55 avg rating — 1,554 ratings — published 1941 — 64 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	La spiaggia 3.34 avg rating — 1,471 ratings — published 1942 — 61 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Cesare Pavese…

Quotes by Cesare Pavese (?)

“Every luxury must be paid for, and everything is a luxury, starting with being in this world.”
― Cesare Pavese, Il mestiere di vivere: Diario 1935-1950

tags: life, luxury

1288 likes

“We do not remember days, we remember moments.”
― Cesare Pavese

404 likes

“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends.
You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things: air, sleep, dreams, sea, the sky - all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.”
― Cesare Pavese

tags: travel

340 likes

See all Cesare Pavese's quotes »

Polls

Cartea Lunii - Ce citim in august?

La răsărit de Eden de John Steinbeck

23 votes, 33.8%

Dumnezeul lucrurilor mărunte de Arundhati Roy

20 votes, 29.4%

Casa de pe colină de Cesare Pavese

12 votes, 17.6%

## Nimic luna asta ##

7 votes, 10.3%

Trainspotting de Irvine Welsh

6 votes, 8.8%

68 total votes

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