John Fante
| John Fante | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
April 8, 1909 Denver, Colorado |
| Died | May 8, 1983 (aged 74) Los Angeles, California |
| Occupation | Novelist, short story writer, screenwriter |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1936–82 |
| Literary movement | Dirty realism |
| Notable works |
Wait Until Spring, Bandini (1938) Ask the Dust (1939) Full of Life (1952) |
John Fante (April 8, 1909 – May 8, 1983) was an Italian-American novelist, short story writer and screenwriter. He is best known for his semi-autobiographical novel Ask the Dust (1939) about the life of a struggling writer, Arturo Bandini, in Depression-era Los Angeles. It is widely considered the great Los Angeles novel and is one in a series of four novels, published between 1938 and 1985, that are now collectively called "The Bandini Quartet". A movie of the same name was made in 2006, starring Colin Farrell. Fante published five novels, one novella, and a short story collection. Additional works, including two novels, two novellas, and two short story collections, were published posthumously. His screen credits include, most notably, Full of Life (1956), based on his 1952 novel by that name, Jeanne Eagels (1957), and the 1962 films Walk on the Wild Side and The Reluctant Saint.
Fante was born in Denver, Colorado, in 1909, to his father, Nicola Fante from Torricella Peligna (Abruzzo), and his mother, Mary Capolungo of Lucanian descent. He attended various Catholic schools in Boulder, Colorado, before briefly enrolling at the University of Colorado. He dropped out of college in 1929 and moved to Southern California to focus on his writing. He wrote about writing and the people and places where he lived and worked, which included Wilmington, Long Beach, Manhattan Beach, the Bunker Hill district of downtown Los Angeles, as well as various homes in Hollywood, Echo Park and Malibu. His son Dan Fante was an author and playwright. Diabetes cost him his eyesight and led to the amputation of both legs. He died in 1983.
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