Ignazio Silone
|
The Honourable Ignazio Silone |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Member of Chamber of Deputies | |
|
In office 11 June 1946 – 31 January 1948 |
|
| Constituency | AC - Abruzzo XXI |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
1 May 1900 Pescina, Italy |
| Died | 22 August 1978 (aged 78) Geneva, Switzerland |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Political party |
Italian Socialist Party (1917-1921; 1930-1947) Communist Party of Italy (1921-1930) Italian Democratic Socialist Party (1947-1954) Independent (1954-1978) |
| Occupation | Author, politician |
Ignazio Silone (Italian: [iɲˈɲattsjo siˈloːne]; 1 May 1900 – 22 August 1978) was the pseudonym of Secondino Tranquilli, an Italian author and politician. He was nominated for the Nobel prize for literature ten times.
He was born in the town of Pescina in the Abruzzo region and lost many family members, including his mother, in the 1915 Avezzano earthquake. His father had died in 1911. Silone joined the Young Socialists group of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), rising to be their leader.
He was a founding member of the breakaway Communist Party of Italy (PCd'I) in 1921, and became one of its covert leaders during the Fascist regime. Ignazio's brother Romolo Tranquilli was arrested in 1928 for being a member of the PCI and died in prison in 1931 as a result of the severe beatings he received.
Silone left Italy in 1927 on a mission to the Soviet Union and settled in Switzerland in 1930. While there, he declared his opposition to Joseph Stalin and the leadership of Comintern; consequently, he was expelled from the PCI. He suffered from tuberculosis and severe clinical depression and spent nearly a year in Swiss clinics; in Switzerland, Aline Valangin helped and played host to him and other migrants. As he recovered, Silone began writing his first novel, Fontamara, published in German translation in 1933. The English edition, first published by Penguin Books in September 1934, went through frequent reprintings during the 1930s, with the events of the Spanish Civil War and the escalation towards the outbreak of World War II increasing attention for its subject material.
...
Wikipedia