Domenico Starnone
{{Short description|Italian writer, screenwriter and journalist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{infobox person
|name = Domenico Starnone
|image = Domenico Starnone2.jpg
|caption= Starnone at a film launch
|birth_place = Saviano, Naples
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1943|02|15|df=y}}
|years active=1970-present
|spouse = Anita Raja
|children = Viola Starnone
|occupation= Novelist, journalist, teacher and screenwriter
|nationality = Italian
}}
Domenico Starnone (born 15 February 1943)
{{cite web|work=IMDB|title=Domenico Starnone|url=
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0823424/}}{{cite news|work=Words Without Borders|title=Domenico Starnone|url=https://wordswithoutborders.org/contributors/view/domenica-starnone/}} is an Italian writer, screenwriter, and journalist.
His work has been translated into English, German and several other languages. These include Prima esecuzione (2007, as First Execution, 2009) and Confidenza (2019, as Trust, 2019).{{cite web|work=Reading in Translation|title=The Three Lives of Domenico Starnone|date=11 October 2021|last1=Reynolds|first1=Michael|url=https://readingintranslation.com/2021/10/11/the-three-lives-of-domenico-starnone/}}{{cite web|work=Reading in Translation.com|title=Degrees of Separation: Jhumpa Lahiri's Translation of Starnone's Trust|date=11 October 2021|last1=Jacobs|first1=Steven|url=https://readingintranslation.com/2021/10/11/degrees-of-separation-jhumpa-lahiris-translation-of-domenico-starnones-trust/}}{{cite news|work=The Washington Post, Books|title=A boy remembers his fierce father in a rich family novel|last1=Parks|first1=Tim|date=2 June 2023|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/06/02/boy-remembers-his-fierce-father-rich-family-novel/}}
His novel Via Gemito won Italy's highest literary honour, the Strega Prize, as well as the Naples Prize for Literature, in 2001{{cite web|work=Times Literary Supplement TLS|title=The House on Via Gremito|
date=16 June 2023|last1=Pettitt|first1=Clare|url=https://www.the-tls.co.uk/literature/fiction/the-house-on-via-gemito-domenico-starnone-book-review-clare-pettitt}} and was also a finalist in the prestigious Campiello Prize prize that year.
Said to be his masterpiece, the novel centers on a Neopolitan train conductor, Federí, facing a life filled with frustration, who unloads his dissatisfaction on his wife and eldest son, the novel's narrator.
Translated into English by Oonagh Stransky, The House on Via Gemito was longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2024.{{cite news|work=Europa Editions|title=The house on Via gemito Longlisted for the International Booker Prize|url=https://www.europaeditions.com/news/2647/the-house-on-via-gemito-longlisted-for-the-international-booker-}}
His thirteenth work of fiction, Ties, was his second to be translated into English and was awarded the Bridge Prize in 2017,
{{cite news|work=On Art and Aesthetics|title=A disquieting Book, Domenico Starnone's Ties|url=https://onartandaesthetics.com/2017/04/27/a-disquieting-book-of-contradictory-impulses-domenico-starnones-ties/}} The Bridge Book Award project seeks to unite Italian and American cultures and strengthen mutual understanding.{{cite web|work=Premio Letterario The Bridge|title=First Edition 2015, Candidates|url=https://premioletterariothebridge.org/en/1a-2015-edition/#candidati}}{{cite web|work=YouTube - Politics & Prose Bookshop Channel|title= Domenico Starnone in Conversation with his translator, Jumpa Lahiri|date=22 March 2017|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXkc95TpFNk}}
In reports dated 2006 (by Luigi Galella), and more recent work in 2017 by Arjuna Tuzzi and Michele A. Cortelazzo of the University of Padova, Starnone—or alternatively, his wife, Anita Raja—has been proposed as the author writing under the pen name, Elena Ferrante.{{cite news|work=LitHub.com|title=Have Italian Scholars Figured Out the Identity of Elena Ferrante?|date=31 March 2021|last=Sotgiu|first1=Elisa|url=https://lithub.com/have-italian-scholars-figured-out-the-identity-of-elena-ferrante/}}
In published interviews, Ferrante has dismissed the allegations: "My identity, my sex can be found in my writing."
Early life and education
Domenico Starnone was born on 15 February 1943 in Saviano in Campania, roughly 25 kilometers northeast of Naples.{{cite news|work=National Book Foundation|title=Domenico Starnone|url=https://www.nationalbook.org/people/domenico-starnone/}}{{cite news|work=Festival Letteratura, Archivio 2010|title=Starnone, Domenico|url=https://archivio.festivaletteratura.it/entita/2043-starnone-domenico}} His father Federico Starnone was a struggling, self-taught Neapolitan painter and his mother was called Rosa.{{cite web|work=Starnone.it|title=biografia|url= https://starnone.it/starnone-biografia/}}
Career
=As novelist=
Starnone is a prolific author, having penned at least 22 works since 1987. He has been quoted in an online interview saying 'writing isn't just fun...the best books are the ones that hurt us.'{{cite web|work=YouTube|title=Louisiana Channel - Starnone Interview|date=2021|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLkZF-FIUJA}}
Translations of his novels from Italian into English include Prima esecuzione (2007) as First Execution (2009), Lacci (2014) as Ties (2017), Scherzetto (2016) as Trick (2018), and Confidenza (2019) as Trust or Secrets (2019).
His novel Via Gemito (The House on Via Gemito) won the Premio Strega in 2001.{{cite news|work=New York Times|title=My Father The Frustrated Artist - Book Review, Domenico Starnone's The House on Via Gemito is a searching autobiography|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/27/books/review/domenico-starnone-house-on-via-gemito.html}}
=Teaching and journalism=
Starnone taught literature at the Marconi High School in Colleferro in Rome for several years early in his career and during the same period, at the Livia Bottardi technical college. In 2017 he taught the works of Italo Calvino at Georgetown University USA.{{cite web|work=Iitally.org|title=My American Journey|date=19 January 2017|last1=Lawton|first1=Anna|url=http://www.iitaly.org/magazine/focus/facts-stories/article/my-american-journey}}
As a journalist, he was a regular contributor to the cultural pages of Il Manifesto, working for several newspapers and satirical magazines, including L'Unità, Corriere della Sera, Tango, La Repubblica and until 2023 he was editor of the weekly column Parole in the magazine Internazionale. For Cuore, he regularly presented episodes from his life as a teacher.{{cite news|work=La Repubblica|title=Domenico Starnone a 80, Un libro autoritratto|date=19 February 2023|author=Simonetta Fiori|url=https://www.repubblica.it/venerdi/2023/02/19/news/domenico_starnone_scrittore_80_anni_nuovo_libro_tirocinio-388005085/}}
=Screenwriting and film adaptations=
Starnone (not to be confused with Italian screenwriter Federico Starnone) is a film and television script writer.
Feature films based on Starnone books have been directed by Gabriele Salvatores, Riccardo Milani, and Daniele Luchetti and he has written many screenplays for big and small screen himself.{{cite web|work=Mubi.com|title=Domenico Starnone, screenwriter, writer|url=https://mubi.com/en/cast/domenico-starnone}}{{cite web|work=Minimum Fax|title=Interview with Domenico Starnone|date=25 May 2011|url=https://www.minimumfax.com/web/content/press/44658/article_attachment}}{{cite news|work=The BookerPrizes.com|title=A Q&A with Domenico Starnone and Oonagh Stransky|url=https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/a-qa-with-domenico-starnone-and-oonagh-stransky}}
The feature films La scuola and The Ties (both directed by Daniele Luchetti), Auguri Professore (directed by Riccardo Milani) and Denti (directed by Gabriele Salvatores) are based on Starnone novels.{{cite web|work=IMDB|title=Domenico Starnone|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0823424/}}
He won the Sergio Amidei prize for best adapted screenplay with Ricardo Milani in 2003 for Il posto dell'anima,{{cite news|work=amidei.com|title=I Vincitori Internazionale alla miglior sceneggiatura 2003|url=https://www.amidei.com/i-vincitori-dei-premi/}} and has been nominated for three Golden Ciak Awards.
Starnone has been nominated along with several writing partners for Nastro d'Argento Silver Ribbon awards for best original screenplay and best adapted screenplay for La febbre (The Fever), L'amore ritorna (Love Returns), L'anima gemella (Soul Mate), Del perduto amore (1999) (Of Lost Love), and La scuola (1996). Many are adapted from his own novels.{{cite news|work=IMDB|title=Domenico Starnone|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0823424/awards/?ref_=nm_ql_2}}
Starnone and his co-screenwriter Francesco Piccolo were nominated for a 2021 Best Adapted Screenplay award for Lacci or Ties (adapted from his own novel) at the David di Donatello Awards given by the Accademia del Cinema Italiano.
A TV series on Rai 1 called Fuoriclasse (in English: A League of Their Own) ran for three seasons 2011-2015, written by Starnone and based on several of his novels (Ex cattedra, Fuori registro, and Sottobanco) starring Luciana Littizzetto.
Links to Elena Ferrante
In 2006, Luigi Galella claimed that computer analysis of textual style supported the conclusion that Starnone was in fact Elena Ferrante.{{cite news|work=New York Times|date=2 October 2016|last1=Donadio|first1=Rachel|title=Who is the Real Elena Ferrante|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/03/books/elena-ferrante-anita-raja-domenico-starnone.html}}
In 2016, Italian journalist Claudio Gatti published a further claim that Anita Raja, Starnone's wife, had received financial benefits commensurate with the best-selling Naples Quartet and that she must be their author.{{cite web | author = Gatti, Claudio | date= 2 October 2016| title= The Story Behind a Name| work= NYBooks.com| language= en| url= http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2016/10/02/story-behind-a-name-elena-ferrante/ | location = New York, NY | publisher=NYREV, Inc. | access-date= June 12, 2023 }}
A two-part journalistic investigation by Gatti was commissioned by Il Sole 24 Ore and scheduled to appear on October 2, 2016 in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the French website Mediapart{{cite web|author=Donadio, Rachael | date = March 9, 2017 | title=Domenico Starnone's New Novel Is Also a Piece in the Elena Ferrante Puzzle | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/09/books/review/ties-domenico-starnone-jhumpa-lahiri.html | work= The New York Times | access-date=September 10, 2017}}
In a collection of interviews published in 2016, the Frantumaglia: A Writer's Journey, Ferrante addressed the speculations, writing that she and Starnone were "tired of everyone asking if he's Ferrante."{{cite news|work=The Guardian|title=Frantumaglia: A writer's Journey by Elena Ferrante Review|last1=Appignagnesi|first1=Lisa|date=29 October 2016|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/oct/29/frantumaglia-a-writers-journey-elena-ferrante-review}}
In 2017, Arjuna Tuzzi and Michele A. Cortelazzo of the University of Padova, Italy compared the use of language by Elena Ferrante in 7 published novels to 150 novels by 39 Italian writers over 30 years.
Starnone strenuously denies that he is Elena Ferrante. In several interviews he claimed that his wife, himself, and most of the millions of readers of the Neapolitan Novels find these investigations boring, disrespectful and irrelevant.{{cite news|work=The Times|title=Anger at Ugly Unmasking|date=4 October 2016|last1=Kington|first1=Tom|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/anger-at-ugly-campaign-to-unmask-mystery-author-of-neopolitan-novels-2l3wq3v8c}}{{cite news|work=The Guardian|title=Who is the real Italian novelist writing as Elena Ferrante?|date=15 October 2014|last1=Davies|first1=Lucy|url=https://readingintranslation.com/2021/10/11/interview-with-domenico-starnone/}}{{cite news|work=Reading in Translation|title=Literature is the Sudden Disintegration - Domenico Starnone in Conversation with Stiliana Milkova|url=https://readingintranslation.com/2021/10/11/interview-with-domenico-starnone/}}
Personal life
Starnone is married to literary translator Anita Raja. They have one daughter.{{cite news|work=Vanity Fair Italia|title=Chi e Anita Raja|last1=Casiragi|first1=Claudia|date=3 October 2016|url=https://www.vanityfair.it/show/libri/16/10/03/anita-raja-chi-e-elena-ferrante-identikit-scrittrice}} In May 2024 he was awarded Honorary Citizenship of Saviano where he was born, as part of a Cultural initiative to honour distinguished writers. "Domenico Starnone makes us proud and excited" said the Mayor, Vincenzo Simonelli.{{cite news|work=Il Matino english version|title=Honorary Citizenship Award Ceremony for writer Domenico Starnone|date=17 May 2024|url=https://www.ilmattino.it/en/honorary_citizenship_award_ceremony_for_writer_domenico_starnone-8123632.html}}
Selected bibliography
- 1987, Ex cattedra, Il Manifesto Rossoscuola Ed.
- 1989, Il salto con le aste, Universale Economica.
- 1990, Denti, Feltrinelli.
- 1990, Segni d'oro, Feltrinellli.
- 1992, Sottobanco, Edizioni e/o.
- 1994, Eccesso di zelo, Feltrinelli.
- 1995, Fuori registro, Feltrinelli.
- 1995, Appunti sulla maleducazione di un insegnante volenteroso, Generico.
- 1996, La retta via, Feltrinelli.
- 1996, Fuori Registro, Feltrinelli.
- 2000, Via Gemito (The House on Via Gemito), Feltrinelli.
- 2001, La collega Passamaglia, Gabriele e Mariateresa Benincasa Ed.
- 2002, Alice allo Strega
- 2005, Labilità
- 2007, Ex cattedra e altre storie di scuola
- 2007, ''Prima esecuzione'
- 2009, Spavento
- 2010, Fare scene. Una storia di cinema
- 2010, Autobiografia erotica di Aristide Gambìa, Einaudi.
- 2014, Lacci (Ties)
- 2016, Scherzetto (Trick)
- 2018, Le false resurrezioni, Einaudi.
- 2019, Confidenza (Trust) Einaudi.
- 2024, Il Vecchio al Mare, Einaudi.
= English editions =
- First Execution, translated by Antony Shugaar (2009) {{ISBN|9781933372662}}
- Ties, translated by Jhumpa Lahiri (2017) {{ISBN|9781609453855}}
- Trick, translated by Jhumpa Lahiri (2018) {{ISBN|9781609454449}}
- Trust (also as Secrets), translated by Jhumpa Lahiri (2019) {{ISBN|9781609457037}}
- The House on Via Gemito, translated by Oonagh Stransky (2023) {{ISBN|9781609459239}}
- The Mortal and Immortal Life of the Girl from Milan, translated by Oonagh Stransky (2024) {{ISBN|9798889660477}}
Notes
{{reflist}}
{{Strega Prize}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Starnone, Domenico}}
Category:Italian male journalists
Category:Italian screenwriters