Biografia
Born in 1906, Dino Buzzati was the second of four children born to his Venetian parents. In 1917, a year after he began studying at the Parini school in Milan, Austrian forces occupied his family's villa, which was partially destroyed during the occupation. After the war ended, Buzzati's father, Giulio Cesare Buzzati, passed away in 1920. At the age of 14, Dino began showing early signs of his future interests: mountains, drawing, and writing. That December, he wrote his first story, "La canzone delle montagne."
In 1924, he enrolled in law studies at the University of Milan, where his father had taught international law. He completed his military service between 1926 and 1927. On July 10, 1928, he started working for the Milan daily newspaper Corriere della Sera, where he remained until his death. That October, he earned his law degree. In 1933, Buzzati published his first novel, "Bàrnabo delle Montagne," and Corriere della Sera sent him on assignment to Palestine. His second novel, "Il Segreto del Bosco Vecchio," followed two years later.
In 1939, while working in Addis Ababa, Buzzati was drafted into the army. In June 1940, his masterpiece "Il Deserto dei Tartari" was first published in Milan. He then spent three years as a war correspondent aboard the warships Fiume and Trieste. After the war, "Il Deserto dei Tartari" was released throughout Italy, bringing Buzzati widespread recognition. International acclaim followed with the French edition published in 1949 under the title "Le Désert des Tartares," and the novel was subsequently translated into about 20 other languages.
In 1953, his most successful play, "Un caso clinico," premiered; it was adapted into French three years later by Albert Camus. Buzzati held his first solo art exhibition in Milan in 1958 and published his only science-fiction novel, "Il grande ritratto," in 1960. In 1961, his mother, Alba Mantovani, passed away 41 years after her husband.
In 1964, Buzzati released his fifth and final novel, "Un amore," and in 1966, he published another masterpiece, "Il Colombre," a collection of 51 short stories. That same year, on December 8, he married Almeria Antoniazzi. In 1969, he published "Poema a fumetti," a modern retelling of the Orpheus myth blending poetry and comic strips. In 1970, he received the Mario Massai journalism prize for his articles covering the first manned moon landing in the summer of 1969.
Buzzati's final book, "Le notti difficili," his sixth collection of short stories whose title reflected his awareness of his declining health, appeared in 1971. Dino Buzzati died of cancer on January 28, 1972.
