Nino Alberto Arbasino (22 January 1930 – 22 March 2020) was an Italian writer, essayist, and politician.
Among the protagonists of Group 63, his literary production has ranged from novels (Fratelli d'Italia of 1963, rewritten in 1976 and 1993) to essay (for example Un Paese senza, 1980). He considered himself an expressionist writer, and he considered Super Eliogabalo his most surrealist and also his most expressionist book: "Especially for the descriptions of the places, which are always dreamlike and delusional".[1]
His work includes novels and essays. Arbasino was a member of the Gruppo 63.
He described himself as an expressionist writer and considered his novel Super Eliogabalo ("Super Elagabalus", 1969) as his most surreal and most expressionist book.[2] He edited and rewrote his various works, which were reprinted in updated versions.[3]
Arbasino literary approach to homosexuality broke the Italian stereotype of the "guilty" gay character, particularly in his 1963 novel Fratelli d'Italia. Arbasino was openly gay in his personal life.[4]
In the 1970s he was the host of the TV debate show Match. In December 1977 it hosted a famous debate between directors Mario Monicelli and (the emerging) Nanni Moretti. Moretti said that Monicelli's An Average Little Man was a reactionary film.[5][6]
In 2004 he won the Premio Chiara for his career.
Arbasino died on 22 March 2020, at the age of 90, after a long illness.[7]
Works
Le piccole vacanze, Einaudi, 1957 (first edition)
Le piccole vacanze, Einaudi, 1971, (ISBN88-06-31658-3) (second edition)
