Nanni Balestrini
Encyclopedia
Nanni Balestrini is an Italian experimental poet, author and visual artist of the Neoavanguardia
movement.
. He wrote for the magazine Il Verri, co-directed Alfabeta and was one of the Italian writers publishing 1961 in the anthology I Novissimi. During the 1960s, the group was growing and becoming the Gruppo 63, Balestrini was the editor of their publications. From 1962 to 1972, he was working for Feltrinelli, cooperating with the Marsilio publishers and editing some issues of the Cooperativa Scrittori.
Balestrini's political activities are also noteworthy: in 1968, he was co-founder of the group Potere operaio
, in 1976 an important supporter of the Autonomia. In 1979, he was accused of membership in the guerilla and fled to Paris
and later Germany
.
Balestrini got known by a larger public thanks to his first novel in the beginning of the 1970s We Want Everything. It describes the struggles and conflicts in the car factory of FIAT
. In the following years, the social movements of his time continued to be his subject. With the book The Unseen, he created a literary monument for the "Generation of 1977". On the one hand, it shows the enormous atmosphere of change during this years, concretising in house occupations, the creation of free radios and more, but on the other, it shows as well the enormous repression by the state against these movements. Other important works are I Furiosi, dedicated to the football supporters culture of the AC Milan, and The Editor, dealing with Giangiacomo Feltrinelli
. Especially in his novel The Golden Horde, co-written with Primo Moroni, his proximity to operaism is obvious. His last novel Sandokan is dealing with the Camorra
in Casal di Principe
.
Neoavanguardia
The neoavanguardia was an avant-garde Italian literary movement, characterized by a strong push towards formal experimentation in language...
movement.
Context
Nanni Balestrini is associated with the Italian writers movement NeoavanguardiaNeoavanguardia
The neoavanguardia was an avant-garde Italian literary movement, characterized by a strong push towards formal experimentation in language...
. He wrote for the magazine Il Verri, co-directed Alfabeta and was one of the Italian writers publishing 1961 in the anthology I Novissimi. During the 1960s, the group was growing and becoming the Gruppo 63, Balestrini was the editor of their publications. From 1962 to 1972, he was working for Feltrinelli, cooperating with the Marsilio publishers and editing some issues of the Cooperativa Scrittori.
Balestrini's political activities are also noteworthy: in 1968, he was co-founder of the group Potere operaio
Potere Operaio
Potere Operaio was a radical left-wing Italian political group, active between 1968 and 1973. Among the group's leaders were Antonio Negri, Franco Piperno, Oreste Scalzone and Valerio Morucci, who led its clandestine...
, in 1976 an important supporter of the Autonomia. In 1979, he was accused of membership in the guerilla and fled to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and later Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Balestrini got known by a larger public thanks to his first novel in the beginning of the 1970s We Want Everything. It describes the struggles and conflicts in the car factory of FIAT
Fiat
FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...
. In the following years, the social movements of his time continued to be his subject. With the book The Unseen, he created a literary monument for the "Generation of 1977". On the one hand, it shows the enormous atmosphere of change during this years, concretising in house occupations, the creation of free radios and more, but on the other, it shows as well the enormous repression by the state against these movements. Other important works are I Furiosi, dedicated to the football supporters culture of the AC Milan, and The Editor, dealing with Giangiacomo Feltrinelli
Giangiacomo Feltrinelli
Giangiacomo Feltrinelli was an Italian publisher and left-wing political activist. He founded the publishing house Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore in 1954. He was also a communist and founded the GAP militant grouping in 1970...
. Especially in his novel The Golden Horde, co-written with Primo Moroni, his proximity to operaism is obvious. His last novel Sandokan is dealing with the Camorra
Camorra
The Camorra is a Mafia-type criminal organization, or secret society, originating in the region of Campania and its capital Naples in Italy. It is one of the oldest and largest criminal organizations in Italy, dating to the 18th century.-Background:...
in Casal di Principe
Casal di Principe
Casal di Principe is a comune in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region Campania, located about 25 km northwest of Naples and about 20 km southwest of Caserta....
.
English
- Lawrence R. Smith (ed.), The New Italian Poetry, 1945 to the Present, University of California Press, 1981.
- The Unseen, Verso BooksVerso BooksVerso Books is a publishing house based in London and New York City, founded in 1970 by the staff of New Left Review. The company claims "global sales approaching $3 million per year and over 350 titles in print," possibly making it "the largest radical publisher in the English-language...
, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, 1989. - Sandokan, Melville House PublishingMelville House PublishingMelville House Publishing is an independent publisher of literary fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. The company was founded in 2001 by the husband and wife team of Dennis Loy Johnson and Valerie Merians in Hoboken, New Jersey, a location Johnson jokingly called "the Left Bank" of New York City...
, Hoboken (N.J.), 2009. - Two Short Stories: Let a Thousand Hands Reach Out to Pick Up The Gun, FIAT, Bandit Press & Shortfuse Press, 2010.
Poetry
- Come si agisce, Feltrinelli, 1963.
- Ma noi facciamone un'altra, Feltrinelli, 1966.
- Poesie pratiche, antologia 1954-1969, Einaudi, 1976.
- Le ballate della signorina Richmond, Coop. Scrittori, 1977.
- Blackout, DeriveApprodi, 2009 [2001].
- Ipocalisse, Scheiwiller, 1986.
- Il ritorno della signorina Richmond, Becco giallo, 1987.
- Osservazioni sul volo degli uccelli, poesie 1954-56, Scheiwiller, 1988.
- Il pubblico del labirinto, Scheiwiller, 1992.
- Estremi rimedi, Manni, 1995.
- Le avventure complete della signorina Richmond, Testo&Immagine, 1999.
- Elettra, Luca Sossella, 2001.
- Tutto in una volta, antologia 1954-2003, Edizioni del Leone, 2003.
- Sfinimondo, Bibliopolis, 2003.
- Sconnessioni, RomeRomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Fermenti, 2008. - Blackout e altro, RomeRomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Deriveapprodi, 2009. - Lo sventramento della storia, RomeRomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Polìmata, 2009.
Novels
- Tristano, DeriveApprodi, 2007 [1964].
- Vogliamo tutto, DeriveApprodi, 2004 [1971].
- La violenza illustrata, DeriveApprodi, 2001 [1976].
- Gli invisibili, DeriveApprodi, 2005 [1987].
- L'editore, DeriveApprodi, 2006 [1989].
- I furiosi, DeriveApprodi, 2004 [1994].
- Una mattina ci siam svegliati, Baldini & Castoldi, 1995.
- La Grande Rivolta, Bompiani, 1999.
- Sandokan, storia di camorra, Einaudi, 2004.
Short stories
- Disposta l'autopsia dell'anarchico morto dopo i violenti scontri di Pisa in: Paola Staccioli, In ordine pubblico, RomRomROM, Rom, or rom is an abbreviation and name that may refer to:-In computers and mathematics:* Read-only memory, a type of storage media which is used in computers and other electronic devices....
, 2002, S. 25-31.
Various
- Gruppo 63, L'Antologia, (mit Alfredo Giuliani), Testo&Immagine, 2002 [1964].
- Gruppo 63. Il romanzo sperimentale, Feltrinelli, 1965.
- L'Opera di Pechino, (mit Letizia Paolozzi), Feltrinelli, 1966.
- L'orda d'oro, (mit Primo Moroni), Sugarco, 1988; Feltrinelli, 1997, 2003.
- Parma 1922, DeriveApprodi, 2002.