Daniele del Giudice

Daniele del Giudice was born in Rome in 1949. During his literary studies he did research on avant-garde theatre first at Grotovsky’s »Theatre Workshop« in Wroc³av, Poland, and later at the political theatre »Nuova Scena« focussing on Dario Fo. He also worked for various newspapers and established a name for himself as an essayist and literary critic. His first novel, »Lo stadio di Wimbledon« (1983; t: Wimbledon stadium) was received as a powerful regeneration of the narrative technique, and was popular with readers and critics alike. The work tells the story of the writer Roberto Balzen, who gives up writing in favor of an active life. The novel was made into a film by Mathieu Almaric in 2002.

Del Giudice is considered a leading representative of a new generation of Italian writers. His works are shaped by his interest in science, innovation and the social changes consequent upon them. His second novel, »Atlante Occidentale« (1985; t: Atlas of the West), focuses on changes in perception brought about by technical progress. The plot tells the story of a young physicist who works at the particle accelerator CERN in Geneva, where substance is mingled with symbolism and new objects arise simultaneously with new concepts. The author himself participated for several years in an international workshop with physicists and mathematicians at the Centro superiore di fisica – under the guidance of Claudio Magris – which deployed literary and scientific language.

In 1990 del Giudice, a passionate pilot and traveller, undertook a long excursion to Antarctica, which he chronicled in his journal »Taccuino Australe« (t: Southern diary). It was published in six parts in the »Corriere della Sera« and the »Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung«. In 1993 he taught on »the knowledge of the pilot« at the École des Hautes Etudes in Paris. His book of short stories, »Staccando l’ombra da terra« (1994; Eng. »Takeoff«, 1996) is also about flying. It brings together episodes such as the first solo flight of a young pilot and the last flight taken by Saint-Exupéry. Del Giudice has later worked on a play about the still unexplained plane crash in Ustica. In 2000 »I Tigi, canto per Ustica« (2001; t: I Tigi, song for Ustica) was performed in Bologna, the then cultural capital of Europe, and also broadcast on television.

Del Giudice has published essays on Italo Svevo, Sigmund Freud, Thomas Bernhard, Stefan Zweig, R.L. Stevenson and Primo Levi. Among the many prizes he has received are the Premio Viareggio, the Premio Internazionale Flaiano and the Premio Feltrinelli Accademia dei Lincei. The author lives in Venice and teaches Drama at the University for Architecture.

© international literature festival berlin

Das Land vom Meer aus gesehen
Hanser
München, 1986
Übersetzung: Dagmar Leupold

Der Atlas des Westens
Hanser
München, 1987
Übersetzung: Karin Fleischanderl

Nel museo di Reims
Mondadori
Mailand, 1988

Das Abheben des Schattens vom Boden
Hanser
München, 1997

Mania
Einaudi
Turin, 1997

I-Tigi, canto per Ustica
[mit Marco Paolini]
Einaudi
Turin, 2001

Nel segno della parola
[mit Umberto Eco und Gianfranco Ravasi]
Rizzoli
Mailand, 2005

Übersetzer: Karin Fleischanderl, Dagmar Leupold