Anna Maria Ortese (1914–1998)
Author of The Bay Is Not Naples
About the Author
Anna Maria Ortese (1914-1998) is one of the most celebrated and original Italian writers of the last century. Neapolitan Chronicles brought her widespread acclaim in her native country when it was first published in 1953 and won the prestigious Premio Viareggio.
Works by Anna Maria Ortese
Il cappello piumato 3 copies
Il cappello piumato : romanzo 2 copies
La luna sul muro e altri racconti 2 copies
L'alone grigio 2 copies
L' Iguana 1 copy
il treno russo 1 copy
La iguana 1 copy
Estivi terrori 1 copy
I giorni del cielo: racconti 1 copy
Associated Works
A Very Italian Christmas: The Greatest Italian Holiday Stories of All Time (Very Christmas, 3) (2018) — Contributor — 20 copies
New World Writing: Fifth Mentor Selection - Fiction, Drama, Poetry, Criticism (1954) — Contributor — 9 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1914-06-13
- Date of death
- 1998-03-09
- Gender
- female
- Occupations
- poet
short story writer
journalist
novelist
essayist
travel writer - Awards and honors
- Campiello (Speciale della Giuria dei Letterati, 1997)
- Short biography
- Anna Maria Ortese was born in Rome, one of six children in a working class family. They moved frequently around Italy for her father's civil service job.
In 1928, they moved to Naples, her mother's hometown, which would feature prominently in Anna Maria's literary imagination. Her first poems were published in the magazine La Sierra Lettering. In 1933, she published La fiera letteraria, a set of poems, followed by the short story collection Angelici dolori (Angelic Pains, 1937). She worked as a reporter for newspapers and magazines such as Sud, Il Mondo and Panorama, while continuing to produce essays, short stories and novels. She moved restlessly around Italy and abroad before settling in Rapallo.
She was best known for her 1953 collection of short stories and reportage, Il mare non bagna Napoli (The Bay Is Not Naples), depicting the miserable conditions in Naples following World War II. Although she won numerous literary prizes, including the Premio Viareggio, her work did not receive international recognition and acclaim until the end of her life, and mostly after her death.
Today she is considered one of Italy's most important 20th century authors. - Nationality
- Italy
- Birthplace
- Rome, Italy
- Places of residence
- Naples, Italy
Milan, Italy
Tripoli, Libya
Rapallo, Italy
Paris, France - Place of death
- Rapallo, Italy
- Map Location
- Italy
Members
Reviews
It’s nice to have more Ortese in print in English, though I can’t help thinking this cynically retitled Il mare non bagna Napoli obscures what’s most interesting about her as a writer, instead casting her as a slightly wonky neorealist forbear to Ferrante. The translation isn’t substantively different from the 1955 Francis Frenaye translation, though the text is slightly more complete and contextual notes explain who the Neapolitan literati were. But the reader of this might show more reasonably imagine that Ortese died after this work, rather than going on to write her much more interesting later novels and stories; this does Ortese a disservice. show less
This is a hard book for me to review. It’s clearly some form of dreamy fantasy, almost fairy-tale like, but the book equally obviously targets real-life societal disillusionment. I suspect that parts of it may be, if not allegory, then at least socio-political commentary on issues I know too little about, which is why I find this hard to review.
Things start of very simple. Naïve and good-humoured Count Aleardo di Grees, from Milan, sets out on his yacht for a lucrative trip around the show more western Mediterranean and the Atlantic coast. He ends up on a Portuguese island that cannot be found on any of his maps and that is owned by an impoverished set of three brothers, nobles all. Their domestic help is a walking, talking iguana called Estrellita, a long-suffering menial servant who behaves at times like a ten-year-old child. Most cruelly, Estrellita’s obvious affections for one of her owners are unscrupulously abused. Count Aleardo takes pity on the poor creature, but finds that he, too, finds himself becoming very fond of Estrellita’s crush, Marquis Felipe.
Initially, this tale that has all the trappings of an allegory -- the fairy-tale quality, the sea voyage into unknown lands, a barely-inhabited island, a talking animal, the focus on aristocracy, the well-worn stereotypes (decrepit aristocracy; profit-obsessed American business moguls; naïve and well-willing main characters, the evil step-siblings). Some of the social commentary is blindingly obvious -- money-hungry capitalism, the impractical benign benevolence of the upper crust. But as the narrative lurches from revelation to revelation, it loses more and more of its attitude of simplicity and one-to-one correspondences. The story gains a few levels of depth and complexity that feel radically different from how it all started. I’ll readily admit that some of it went over my head, but I think I know enough about 1950s (dis)illusions to follow at least Ortese's general direction. show less
Things start of very simple. Naïve and good-humoured Count Aleardo di Grees, from Milan, sets out on his yacht for a lucrative trip around the show more western Mediterranean and the Atlantic coast. He ends up on a Portuguese island that cannot be found on any of his maps and that is owned by an impoverished set of three brothers, nobles all. Their domestic help is a walking, talking iguana called Estrellita, a long-suffering menial servant who behaves at times like a ten-year-old child. Most cruelly, Estrellita’s obvious affections for one of her owners are unscrupulously abused. Count Aleardo takes pity on the poor creature, but finds that he, too, finds himself becoming very fond of Estrellita’s crush, Marquis Felipe.
Initially, this tale that has all the trappings of an allegory -- the fairy-tale quality, the sea voyage into unknown lands, a barely-inhabited island, a talking animal, the focus on aristocracy, the well-worn stereotypes (decrepit aristocracy; profit-obsessed American business moguls; naïve and well-willing main characters, the evil step-siblings). Some of the social commentary is blindingly obvious -- money-hungry capitalism, the impractical benign benevolence of the upper crust. But as the narrative lurches from revelation to revelation, it loses more and more of its attitude of simplicity and one-to-one correspondences. The story gains a few levels of depth and complexity that feel radically different from how it all started. I’ll readily admit that some of it went over my head, but I think I know enough about 1950s (dis)illusions to follow at least Ortese's general direction. show less
Il primo romanzo, che da il titolo al libro, è una storia d'amore del dopoguerra, tra giovanissimi o quasi impegnati sia politicamente sia nel costruirsi una carriera letteraria. Il racconto è piuttosto semplice, e sarebbe anche piacevole se il linguaggio non fosse a dir poco impervio, compresso com'è tra arcaismi, stilemi neorealistici e un fraseggiare che farebbe la felicità di qualsiasi insegnante di lettere delle superiori.
Il secondo romanzo, molto surreale e intrigante nell'idea di show more base, che potrebbe essere stata concepita da un Saramago, è del tutto illeggibile e di una noia mortale.
Giustamente di questa opera della Ortese si è perduta la memoria. show less
Il secondo romanzo, molto surreale e intrigante nell'idea di show more base, che potrebbe essere stata concepita da un Saramago, è del tutto illeggibile e di una noia mortale.
Giustamente di questa opera della Ortese si è perduta la memoria. show less
Non posso credere che Napoli sia SOLO questo (un verminaio di nera, morente umanità).
Ma di sicuro in Napoli c'è ANCHE questo ('na carta sporca...).
Ma di sicuro in Napoli c'è ANCHE questo ('na carta sporca...).
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