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Achille Campanile
Achille Campanile
Born(1899-09-28)28 September 1899
Died4 January 1977(1977-01-04) (aged 77)
Alma materSapienza University of Rome
Occupations
  • Novelist
  • playwright
  • Intellectual
  • Literary critic
Spouses
Maria Rosa Lisa
(m. 1940; div. 1943)
Giuseppina Bellavita
(m. 1953)
Children1
Parent(s)Gaetano Campanile Mancini and Clotilde Fiore
Writing career
LanguageItalian
Genre
Literary movementFuturism
Novecento Italiano
Notable worksSe la luna mi porta fortuna
Agosto, moglie mia non ti conosco
In campagna è un'altra cosa (c'è più gusto)

Achille Campanile (Italian pronunciation: [aˈkille kam.paˈni.le]; 28 September 1899 – 4 January 1977) was an Italian writer, playwright, journalist and television critic known for his surreal humour and word play.

Biography

Achille Campanile was born in Rome on 28 September 1899.[1] His father was one of the editors of the newspaper La Tribuna.[2] Always a prolific contributor to newspapers and periodicals, Campanile wrote for the newspapers La Tribuna, L'Idea Nazionale and the satirical magazine Il Travaso delle idee.[1]

He became famous for his brief humorous dramatic pieces. In 1925 he published his first theatre work entitled L’inventore del cavallo which was a single-act play.[1] His Futurist plays, such as Centocinquanta la gallina canta (1925), characterized by a taste for word play and surrealist nonsense, won critical acclaim.

He had more popular success with novels such as Ma che cos'è questo amore? (1927). Both his novels and plays show a passion for nonsense and linguistic ambiguity, although his surreal humour often disguises a strong critique of bourgeois mores.[2]

His Tragedie in due battute (Tragedies in Two Cues) have been rediscovered by the avant-garde of the sixties and the early seventies and are considered anticipations of Theatre of the Absurd.[3] Campanile was active in the post-war period as a television critic.

Works

Achille Campanile, Giovinotti, non esageriamo!, 1929

Works available in English

References

  1. ^ a b c Alessandra Aquilanti (2015). Humor in Fascist Italy (PhD thesis). Stanford University. p. 8. ISBN 9798662565203. ProQuest 2501173396.
  2. ^ a b Luxardo Franchi 1988.
  3. ^ Cornwell, Neil (2006). The Absurd in Literature. Manchester University Press. p. 289. ISBN 071907410X.

Sources