Carlo Emilio Gadda (1893-1973) is an Italian writer of the 20th century. He belongs to the tradition of the language innovators, writers that played with the somewhat stiff standard pre-war Italian language, and added elements of dialects, technical jargon and wordplay. Another writer that did this was the nobleman Tommaso Landolfi. 1893 (MDCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... The term writer can apply to anyone who creates a written work, but the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... Italian ( , or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 70 million people [], primarily in Italy. ... A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language used by people from a particular geographic area. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Tommaso Landolfi (born 1908 in Pico Farnese (Frosinone), Italy and died in 1979 in Rome) was an Italian author and translator. ...

Gadda was a practising engineer from Milan, and he both loved and hated his job. Critics have compared him to other writers with a scientific background, such as Primo Levi, Robert Musil and Thomas Pynchon--a similar spirit of exactitude pervades some of Gadda's books. Look up engineer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Milano redirects here. ... Primo Levi. ... Robert Musil (November 6, 1880, Klagenfurt, Austria – April 15, 1942, Geneva, Switzerland) was an Austrian writer. ... Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. ...

Carlo Emilio Gadda was born in Milan in 1893, and he was always intensely Milanese, although late in his life Florence and Rome also became an influence. Gadda's nickname is Il gran Lombardo, The Great Lombard: a reference to the famous lines 70-3 of Paradiso XVII, which predict the protection Dante would receive from Bartolomeo della Scala of Verona during his exile from Florence: "Lo primo tuo refugio e 'l primo ostello / sarà la cortesia del gran Lombardo / che 'n su la scala porta il santo uccello" (Your first refuge and inn shall be the courtesy of the great Lombard, who bears on the ladder the sacred bird). Milano redirects here. ... Florences skyline Florences skyline at night from Piazza Michaelangelo Florence (Italian: ) is the capital city of the region of Tuscany, Italy. ... Nickname: The Eternal City Motto: SPQR: Senatus PopulusQue Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 21 April 753 BC  - Mayor Walter Veltroni Area    - City 1285 km²  (580 sq mi)  - Urban... Lombardy (Italian: Lombardia, Lombard: Lumbardia) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy. ... Dante shown holding a copy of The Divine Comedy, next to the entrance to Hell, the seven terraces of Mount Purgatory and the city of Florence, with the spheres of Heaven above, in Michelinos fresco. ... Dante in a fresco series of famous men by Andrea del Castagno, ca. ... Verona is an ancient town, episcopal see, and province in Veneto, Northern Italy. ...

Gadda's father died in 1909, leaving the family in reduced economic conditions; Gadda's mother, however, never tried to adopt a cheaper style of life. The paternal business ineptitude and the maternal obsession for keeping "face" and appearances turn up strongly in La cognizione del dolore.

He studied in Milan, and while studying at the Politecnico (a university specialized in engineering and architecture), he volunteered for World War I. During the war he was taken prisoner and his brother was killed in a plane--his brother's death features prominently in La cognizione del dolore. Milano redirects here. ... For a list of universities around the world, see Lists of colleges and universities Representation of a university class, 1350s. ... Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Franz...

After the war, in 1920, Gadda finally graduated. He practiced as an engineer until 1935, spending three of these years in Argentina. The country at that time was experiencing a booming economy, and Gadda used the experience for the fictional South American-cum-Brianza setting of La Cognizione del Dolore. After that, in the 1940s, he dedicated himself to literature. These were the years of fascism, that found him a grumbling and embittered pessimist. With age, his bitterness and misanthropy somewhat intensified--one of his less amiable tracts was misery. Province of Monza e Brianza has been officially created (with part of the province of Milan) on May 12th, 2004, but will be effective in 2009. ... The 1940s decade ran from 1940 to 1949. ... Old book bindings at the Merton College library. ... Fascism is a political ideology and mass movement that seeks to place the nation, defined in exclusive biological, cultural, and/or historical terms, above all other sources of loyalty, and to create a mobilized national community. ... Pessimism, generally, describes a belief that things are bad, and tend to become worse; or that looks to the eventual triumph of evil over good; it contrasts with optimism, the contrary belief in the goodness and betterment of things generally. ... Misanthropy is a hatred or distrust of the human race, or a disposition to dislike and mistrust other people. ...

Gadda kept writing until his death, in 1973. The most important critic of Gadda was Gianfranco Contini. Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. ...

Gadda's grave in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome. Picture by Massimo Consoli

Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1158x1800, 142 KB) Tomba dello scrittore Carlo Emilio Gadda (1893-1973) al Cimitero acattolico di Roma. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1158x1800, 142 KB) Tomba dello scrittore Carlo Emilio Gadda (1893-1973) al Cimitero acattolico di Roma. ... Shelleys Tomb in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome, an 1873 painting by Walter Crane. ...

Bibliography

• La madonna dei filosofi, 1931
• Il castello di Udine, 1934
• Le meraviglie d'Italia, 1939
• Gli anni, 1943
• L'Adalgisa, 1944 short stories, set in Milan in a middle-high class environment
• Il primo libro delle favole, 1952 a collection of Italian Renaissance and Medieval folk tales
• Novelle dal ducato in fiamme, 1953
• I sogni e la folgore, 1955
• Giornale di guerra e di prigionia, 1955 this diary covers Gadda's years in World War I, including his military actions in the Passo Tonale area and his months as a prisoner in Austria.
• Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana, 1957 - translated as That Awful Mess on Via Merulana, this crime novel experiments heavily with language, borrowing a great deal from several Italian dialects
• I viaggi e la morte, 1958
• Verso la Certosa, 1961
• Accoppiamenti giudiziosi, 1963
• La cognizione del dolore, 1963 translated as Acquainted with Grief. A large unfinished crime novel set in a fictitious South American country that is really the [Brianza] area close to Milan. This is the book you have to read to form an opinion of Gadda. It touches all of the author's obsessions - some parts will have you laughing out loud.
• I Luigi di Francia, 1964 a curious summary of French history, through the distorting and corrosive outlook of the author
• Eros e Priapo, 1967 an analysis of Italian Fascism and of Italian fascination with Benito Mussolini. It explains Fascism as an essentially bourgeois movement.
• La meccanica, 1970 more [milanese] short stories, like the following books
• Novella seconda, 1971
• Meditazione milanese, 1974
• Le bizze del capitano in congedo, 1981
• Il palazzo degli ori, 1983
• Racconto italiano di ignoto del novecento, 1983
• Azoto e altri scritti di divulgazione scientifica, 1986 a collection of scientific prose
• Taccuino di Caporetto, 1991
• Opere, 1988-93

Gadda's complete works are available in the I Meridiani collection. Sherlock Holmes, pipe-puffing hero of crime fiction, confers with his colleague Dr. Watson; together these characters popularized the genre. ... Sherlock Holmes, pipe-puffing hero of crime fiction, confers with his colleague Dr. Watson; together these characters popularized the genre. ... Fascism is a political ideology and mass movement that seeks to place the nation, defined in exclusive biological, cultural, and/or historical terms, above all other sources of loyalty, and to create a mobilized national community. ... Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (July 29, 1883 – April 28, 1945) was the prime minister and dictator of Italy from 1922 until 1943, when he was overthrown. ... Bourgeois at the end of the thirteenth century. ...