Ask the Dust
First edition
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| Author | John Fante |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Bandini Quartet |
| Genre | Roman à clef |
| Publisher | Stackpole Sons |
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Publication date
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1939 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 63537603 |
| Preceded by | Wait Until Spring, Bandini |
| Followed by | Dago Red |
Ask the Dust is the most popular novel of Italian-American author John Fante, first published in 1939 and set during the Great Depression-era in Los Angeles. It is one of a series of novels featuring the character Arturo Bandini as Fante's alter ego, a young Italian-American from Colorado struggling to make it as a writer in Los Angeles.
The novel is widely regarded as an American classic, regularly on college syllabi for American literature. The book is a roman à clef, much of it rooted in autobiographical incidents in Fante's life. The novel influenced Charles Bukowski significantly. In 2006, screenwriter Robert Towne adapted the novel into a film, Ask the Dust, starring Salma Hayek and Colin Farrell.
Initial publication of the novel followed Fante's successful publication of Wait Until Spring, Bandini and his short stories in prominent publications, like The American Mercury. The first edition of the novel was only printed with 2,200 copies. Though sales were not extensive, a paperback edition was issued by Bantam in 1954. But the novels popularity didn't reach its peak until poet Charles Bukowski led the reissue of the novel by Black Sparrow Press in 1980, alongside a forward by Bukowski.
Fante's most popular novel by far, the semi-autobiographical Ask the Dust is the second book in what is now referred to as "The Saga of Arturo Bandini" or "The Bandini Quartet". Bandini served as his alter ego in a total of four novels: Wait Until Spring, Bandini (1938), The Road to Los Angeles (chronologically, this is the first novel Fante wrote but it was unpublished until 1985), Ask the Dust (1939) and, finally, Dreams from Bunker Hill (1982). The last was dictated to his wife, Joyce, towards the end of his life. Fante's use of Bandini as his alter ego can be compared to Charles Bukowski's character, Henry Chinaski.
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Wikipedia