Giuseppe Berto
Giuseppe Berto was an influential Italian author born on December 27, 1914, in Mogliano Veneto, Italy. His early life was marked by a challenging relationship with his authoritarian father and harsh experiences in a boarding school. After serving in the military and being wounded in Africa, Berto was captured during World War II and imprisoned in Texas, where he delved into American literature. His literary career is often divided into three distinct phases: an initial focus on neorealism, followed by avant-garde experimentation, and finally a metaphysical exploration of the human condition.
Berto's works often reflect the traumatic impacts of war, with his novel *Il cielo è rosso* capturing the devastating experiences of children affected by conflict. He is also known for *Le opere di Dio*, which, although initially poorly received, delves into themes of suffering and existential despair through a poetic lens. His later work, *Il male oscuro*, emerged from his personal struggles with mental health and became a celebrated exploration of the subconscious. Berto's writings, which include biblical themes in his final pieces, invite readers to reflect on profound questions of evil and the human experience. Despite facing criticism in his time, he is recognized for his psychological insight and innovative narrative style.
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Subject Terms
Giuseppe Berto
Fiction, Nonfiction and Children's Literature Writer and Playwright
- Born: December 27, 1914
- Birthplace: Mogliano Veneto, Italy
- Died: November 1, 1978
- Place of death: Rome, Italy
Biography
Giuseppe Berto was born December 27, 1914, in Mogliano Veneto, Italy. He struggled throughout his life to deal with his relationship with his father, an authoritarian military man. The second child in a family of five children, Berto spent much of his childhood in a boarding school that employed harsh, even abusive, punishments. After high school he studied at the University of Padua and served in the military in Africa in 1935, where he was wounded. After completing his university degree in art history, he reenlisted in the military but was captured by Allied forces and imprisoned in Texas, where he studied American fiction.
Although he is sometimes identified with the Italian neorealism movement, Berto did not confine his writing to this style. Neorealism, or a strict adherence to realism, was a reaction to World War II, fascist repression, and resistance to the fascist government. Berto focused on such concerns, but his style varied from the eccentric to a highly symbolic, lyrical, and religiously imbued prose. His career can be viewed as having three stages—a neorealistic focus (1940-1960), an avant-garde experimentation (1960’s through 1970’s), and a final metaphysical searching.
His first major works contain realistic depictions of the horrific effects of war, and his Il cielo è rosso is considered a classic delineation of the devastating devastating effects of war on children, a portrait echoed in Italian neorealistic films of the 1940’s. The novel received the renowned Firenze Prize in 1948. The same year Berto published what is considered his masterpiece, Le opere di Dio, although the book was poorly received when it was first released. The novel also addresses the suffering caused by war and is told through a child’s perspective, but it is stylistically more poetic than his first novel, featuring symbolic figures who fail to understand their terrible fate and signal a hopeless pessimism.
Berto’s next work, Il brigante, also did not satisfy Italian readers but was praised in the United States and produced as a film in 1961. The following years were difficult for Berto, who suffered mental disorders and suicidal depression. As therapy, he wrote a journal of his psychological journey that became his most recognized novel, Il male oscuro. Both hilarious and confessional, the book became an overnight success and was described as a Dantean odyssey into the subconscious depths of its protagonist’s psyche. Stylistically, it was a departure from neorealism, often eliminating punctuation and logical connections between sentences. Berto’s final works, the playLa passione secondo noi stesso, and his novel La gloria, explore biblical themes. La gloria is dually narrated by Judas the Apostle and Judas the narrator, each presenting a modern, psychological view of guilt and existential angst.
Berto created works of innovation and psychological insight. Through his work, Berto searched for an explanation for “il male universale” (the universal evil) that plagues man and produces war, poverty, and inherent evil. Though ostracized by contemporaries for his neglect of political exigencies, Berto is regarded as an insightful examiner of the human condition.