Cesare Pavese

Cesare Pavese was a novelist, poet, translator, editor, and literary critic, considered one of the most influential Italian intellectuals of the twentieth century. Born in 1908 in Santo Stefano Belbo, a small village in the Langhe region of Piedmont, he graduated from the University of Turin with a thesis on the poetry of Walt Whitman. Pavese played a key role in introducing Italian readers to major English and American writers, translating works by authors such as Joyce, Defoe, Melville, and...See more

Cesare Pavese was a novelist, poet, translator, editor, and literary critic, considered one of the most influential Italian intellectuals of the twentieth century. Born in 1908 in Santo Stefano Belbo, a small village in the Langhe region of Piedmont, he graduated from the University of Turin with a thesis on the poetry of Walt Whitman. Pavese played a key role in introducing Italian readers to major English and American writers, translating works by authors such as Joyce, Defoe, Melville, and Faulkner. As an editor at the prestigious Einaudi publishing house, Pavese oversaw the publication of novels by Natalia Ginzburg and Italo Calvino. A pioneer of literary neorealism, Pavese's work explores themes of loneliness and alienation, often featuring protagonists struggling to reconnect with a simpler rural past.Pavese battled depression throughout his life. In 1950, two months after winning the Strega Prize, Italy's most prestigious literary award, and following a failed love affair with Hollywood actress Constance Dowling, he tragically ended his life in a hotel room near Turin's railway station. See less