Mario Pomilio
Mario Pomilio was an Italian writer born on January 14, 1921, in Orsogna, Abruzzi. He was the son of a socialist teacher and grew up under the influence of a strong Catholic upbringing, which shaped his literary interests. After moving to Avezzano at a young age, Pomilio pursued literature, earning his degree from the Pisa Normal School in 1945, and furthered his studies in Brussels and Paris. His writing career began in the early 1940s, encompassing critical studies, poetry, and novels that often explored themes of faith, justice, and the human condition.
Pomilio's notable works include his debut novel, "L'uccello nella cupola," a story about a conflicted clergyman, and "Il testimone," which delves into existential themes within a Christian context. He garnered multiple prestigious awards throughout his career, including the Strega Prize and the Flaiano Prize. In addition to novels, he published short stories and essays that addressed Christian and philosophical issues. Despite struggling with rheumatoid arthritis later in life, Pomilio continued to write until his death on April 3, 1990, leaving behind a rich literary legacy with several posthumous publications.
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Mario Pomilio
Writer
- Born: January 14, 1921
- Birthplace: Orsogna, Abruzzi, Italy
- Died: April 3, 1990
- Place of death:
Biography
Mario Pomilio was born on January 14, 1921, in Orsogna, Abruzzi, Italy, the son of socialist teacher Tommaso Pomilio and Emma Di Lorenzo Pomilio. The family moved to Avezzano when Pomilio was five years old. Because of his mother’s strong Catholic upbringing, he grew up reading books of religious meditations, including the works of Saint Augustine and Blaise Pascal, rather than novels.
While he was in college, Pomilio was exposed to Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevski, and other Russian novelists and to Italian writers, such as Alberto Moravia and Corrado Alvaro. He graduated from the Pisa Normal School with a bachelor’s degree in literature in 1945; his thesis concerned the narrative techniques of 1934 Nobel Laureate Luigi Pirandello. He later continued his studies at universities in Brussels and Paris. After World War II, Pomilio returned to Avezzano to teach and became involved in politics, first with the Action Party and later with the Italian Socialist Party. He relocated to Naples in 1949, where he taught at a grammar school and, with friends Michele Prisco and Domenico Rea, cofounded the review Literary Motivations.
Pomilio began writing in the early 1940’s, producing critical studies of Italian writers for various publications. He also wrote poetry that appeared in Italian periodicals and was anthologized in the early 1950’s. His first novel, L’uccello nella cupola, published in 1954, examined the conflicts of conscience involving protagonist Don Giacomo, a clergyman. Told in a postwar neorealistic style, the novel won the Marzotta Prize and marked Pomilio as a Christian writer of great promise. His critically acclaimed follow-up novel, Il testimone (1956; The Witness, 1959), confirmed that impression, exploring Christianity of an existential nature and the topics of human and divine justice. That novel won the Naples Prize, as did Il nouvo corso (1959; The New Line, 1961). Another novel, Compromissione, a study of ideological failure during the political crisis of 1948, received the Campiello Prize. Pomilio received both the Flaiano Prize and the Naples Prize for his novel, Il quinto evangelio.
Pomilio also published a collection of short stories, Il cane sull’Etna, in 1978, and two collections of essays dealing with issues of Christianity and faith, Constestazioni and Scritti cristiani. His last novel published during his lifetime, Il Natale del 1833, won the Fiuggi Prize and the prestigious Strega Prize.
Plagued by rheumatoid arthritis in his later years, Pomilio died of a tumor on April 3, 1990. Several of his works were published posthumously, including the novel Una lapide in via del Babuino and a volume of his collected poems from 1949 through 1953.