Corrado Alvaro facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Corrado Alvaro
Corrado Alvaro in the 1920s
Born	(1895-04-15)15 April 1895 San Luca, Italy
Died	11 June 1956(1956-06-11) (aged 61) Rome, Italy
Occupation	Journalist and writer of novels, short stories, screenplays and plays
Language	Italian
Nationality	Italian
Genre	Verismo
Notable works	Gente in Aspromonte (Revolt in Aspromonte)
Notable awards	Strega Prize (Premio Strega) in 1951
Website
Fondazione Corrado Alvaro

Corrado Alvaro (born April 15, 1895 – died June 11, 1956) was an Italian journalist and writer. He wrote novels, short stories, movie scripts, and plays. He often used a writing style called verismo. This style showed the difficult lives of poor people in his home region of Calabria, Italy. His first big success was a book called Gente in Aspromonte (Revolt in Aspromonte). This book talked about how rich landowners treated farmers unfairly in Calabria. Many people think it is his best work.

Corrado Alvaro's Life Story

Corrado Alvaro was born in San Luca. This is a small village in the very south of Calabria. His father, Antonio, was a school teacher. He even started an evening school for farmers and shepherds who could not read.

Early Education and Journalism

Alvaro went to special boarding schools run by the Jesuits. These schools were in Rome and Umbria. In 1919, he finished his studies at the University of Milan. He earned a degree in literature. After that, he started working as a journalist. He also became a literary critic. He wrote for two daily newspapers: Il Resto di Carlino and the Corriere della Sera.

Military Service and Anti-Fascist Views

Alvaro served as an officer in the Italian army. This was during World War I. He was hurt in both arms and spent a long time in military hospitals. After the war, he worked in Paris, France. He was a reporter for an anti-Fascist newspaper called Il Mondo. In 1925, he supported a special statement. It was called the Manifesto of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals. This statement was against the Fascist government.

Writing Against Oppression

In 1926, he published his first novel. It was called L'uomo nel labirinto (Man in the Labyrinth). This book explored the rise of Fascism in Italy in the 1920s. Alvaro strongly believed in democracy. He was also very much against the Fascist government led by Benito Mussolini. Because of his views, Mussolini's government watched him closely. He was forced to leave Italy.

During the 1930s, he traveled a lot. He visited Western Europe, the Middle East, and the Soviet Union. He later wrote about these trips in his travel essays. One of his books, L'uomo è forte (1938; Man Is Strong), was written after a trip to the Soviet Union. This book defended the idea of individual freedom. It spoke against governments that control everything, known as totalitarianism.

Return to Italy and Later Career

After World War II, Alvaro came back to Italy. He worked again for important newspapers. He was a special reporter, a critic for theater and movies, and an editor. In 1947, he became the secretary of the Italian Association of Writers. He held this job until he died in Rome in 1956. He is buried in Vallerano.

Corrado Alvaro's Books and Stories

At first, Corrado Alvaro's books were not very popular. But critics liked his first novel, L'uomo nel labirinto. They praised how it showed people feeling alone and disconnected. His later works helped him become an important writer. These included L'amata alla finestra, Gente in Aspromonte, La signora dell'isola, and Vent'anni.

Awards and Themes

In 1931, a group of judges gave him a prize. It was worth 50,000 lire from the newspaper La Stampa. One of the judges was the famous Italian novelist Luigi Pirandello. The prize was for his book Gente in Aspromonte.

In 1951, he won the Strega Prize (Premio Strega). This is Italy's most important literary award. He won it for his novel Quasi una vita. Alvaro is known for his realistic stories. They often showed the lives of poor Italian people. His later books explored the differences between wanting a simple, country life and wanting to be successful in the city. He passed away in Rome.

He was one of the first writers to mention the 'Ndrangheta. This is a mafia-style criminal group from his home region of Calabria. He wrote about them in some short stories and in an article for the Corriere della Sera in 1955.

List of Works

• Polsi, nell'arte, nella leggenda, e nella storia (1912)
• Poesie grigioverdi (1917)
• La siepe e l'orto (1920)
• L'uomo del labirinto (1926)
• L'amata alla finestra (1929)
• Vent'anni (1930)
• Gente in Aspromonte (Revolt in Aspromonte, 1930. Won the prize of the newspaper La Stampa in 1931)
• La signora dell'isola; racconti (1931)
• Maestri del diluvio; viaggio nella Russia sovietica (1935)
• L'uomo è forte (Man Is Strong, 1938. Won the literature prize of the Accademia d'Italia in 1940)
• Incontri d'amore (1940)
• Viaggio in Russia (1943)
• L'età breve (1946; first novel in the series Memorie del mondo sommerso)
• Lunga notte di Medea, tragedia in due tempi (1949)
• Quasi una vita. Giornale di uno scrittore (1950. Winner of Strega Prize 1951)
• Il nostro tempo e la speranza. Saggi di vita contemporanea (1952)
• Un fatto di cronaca. Settantacinque racconti (1955)
• Colore di Berlino. Viaggio in Germania (2001)

Selected Filmography

• Adam's Tree (1936)
• A Woman Between Two Worlds (1936)
• No Man's Land (1939)
• Carmela (1942)
• Headlights in the Fog (1942)
• Resurrection (1944)
• Pact with the Devil (1950)
• Women Without Names (1950)

See also

In Spanish: Corrado Alvaro para niños