Luigi Malerba
Luigi Malerba, born Luigi Banardi on November 11, 1927, in Berceto, Italy, was a prominent writer and filmmaker known for his avant-garde literary contributions. After earning a law degree from the University of Parma, he transitioned to the film industry, collaborating with notable directors and co-directing the film *Donne e soldati* in 1953. Malerba was associated with Gruppo 63, a movement that emphasized innovative literature, and co-founded Cooperative Scittori, a publishing house that championed daring works, including crucial reports on the Mafia.
His literary career flourished in the 1960s, marked by a unique blend of dark humor and eccentric characters, reflecting the complexities of language and reality. His first major works, *Il serpente* and *Salto mortale*, earned him international acclaim, particularly through English translations. In addition to fiction, Malerba wrote journalistic pieces, children's stories, and a nonfiction exploration of the Emilian dialect, showcasing his fascination with language and culture. His writing often features alienated first-person narrators, encouraging a tolerance for unconventional experiences. Throughout his career, Malerba received multiple literary awards and honors, including an honorary degree from the University of Palermo in 1990.
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Luigi Malerba
- Born: November 11, 1927
- Birthplace: Berceto, Parma, Italy
- Died: 2008
- Place of death:
Biography
Luigi Malerba is the pseudonym of Luigi Banardi, the son of Pieta and Maria Olari, who was born on November 11, 1927, in Berceto, Parma, in the Emilia region of north central Italy. He lived on the family farm until he earned his law degree from the University of Parma. He then moved to Rome to pursue a career in the film industry, working as a script writer and collaborating with several well-known screenwriters and movie directors. Along with Antonio Marchi, he directed the film Donne e soldati in 1953. He divided his time between Rome and Berceto, where he helped out on his family’s farm. In 1962, he married Anna Lapenna and they had two children.
During the 1960’s, Malerba became an avant-garde writer and was associated with Gruppo 63. He also cofounded Cooperative Scittori, a publishing company that released work that other publishers considered too risky. For example, the company’s first publication, Relazione parlamentare antimafia, was a report of a parliamentary commission that became crucial in Mafia investigations.
Malerba wrote novels throughout the 1960’s. In his first efforts, he demonstrated a remarkable talent for combining dark humor, language, and eccentric characters to show contradictions between the world of words, with their ambiguities, and the world of reality. Not surprisingly, Malerba admired the works of Lewis Carroll, James Joyce, and Eugene Ionesco. His first published work, La scoperta dell’alfabeto, was a collection of short stories about the peasants of the Emilia region where he grew up. It was well received by critics, but it would be the novels Il serpente (1966; The Serpent, 1968) and Salto mortale (1968; What Is this Buzzing, Do You Hear It Too?, 1969) that assured Malerba’s standing as a major Italian writer, both nationally and internationally, thanks to the excellent English translations by Wililam Weaver.
In addition to his novels, Malerba proved himself in other genres. During the 1970’s and 1980’s, he did journalistic writing for Il Corriere della sera and La Repubblica, national newspapers. He also wrote some short fiction and criticism that was published not only in Italy, but in England, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States. He wrote children’s stories and a nonfiction book in which he explored his fascination with language; this book, Le parole abbandonate: Un reperterio dialettale emiliano, examines the culture through the language of the Emilian people in northern Italy.
Unlike the experience of many other writers, Malerba’s literary development, for the most part, did not result from the influence of other writers. While he admired Italo Svevo and Fyodor Dostoevski’s Notes from the Underground (1864), he looked more often to scientific publications, especially to physics textbooks, which he considered to be “the real avant-garde of literature.” Malerba often used first-person narrators, who are alienated creatures struggling with contradictions between their inner perceptions of the world and the actual situations they confront. In so doing, Malerba teaches tolerance for untraditional experiences.
Malerba’s work won him several prizes: the Viareggio, Selezione Campiello, Prix Medicis, Mondello, and Flaiano. He also received an honorary degree in 1990 from the University of Palermo.