Giacomo Sartori
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Short description|Italian writer}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Giacomo Sartori
| image = Giacomo romano rid.jpg
| caption = Sartori in 2010
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1958}}
| occupation = Author, agronomist
| years_active = 1990s – present
}}
Giacomo Sartori (born 1958) is an Italian author and agronomist. His day job as a soil scientist has attracted attention for its atypicality and influence on his work. Sartori, who began writing in his thirties, has since published seven novels and four collections of short stories. He is also an editor and columnist of the online literary magazine {{Interlanguage link|Nazione Indiana|lt=Nazione Indiana|it||WD=}}. I Am God, his first novel to be published in English, was translated in 2019 by Frederika Randall and received positive reviews.
Early life
Sartori was born in Trento, Italy, in 1958. The Alpine region near the Austrian border he grew up in inspired many of his early works.{{cite web|url=https://restlessbooks.org/giacomo-sartori|title=Giacomo Sartori|work=Restless Books|author=Staff writer|date=February 2021 |access-date=6 February 2021}} His father was a supporter of Italian fascism and Benito Mussolini, which shaped the younger Sartori's worldview indelibly; his conscious attempts to distance himself from his father inspired much of his psyche and writing.{{cite web|url=https://www.arkint.org/features/giacomo-sartori-qa|title=Interview with Giacomo Sartori|work=The Arkansas International|last1=Greeott|first1=Anne|last2=Sartori|first2=Giacomo|date=3 March 2017|access-date=6 February 2021}} He graduated from the University of Florence in 1983 with a degree in agricultural science.{{cite web|url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/giacomo-sartori-7474a895/?originalSubdomain=it|title=Giacomo Sartori, autore e agronomo|last=Sartori|first=Giacomo|work=LinkedIn|access-date=6 February 2021|language=Italian}}
Early works
Sartori began writing in the 1990s and published his first novel, Tritolo, in 1999.{{cite web|url=https://www.ildolomiti.it/blog/il-lanternino/da-tritolo-a-sono-dio-storia-di-un-grande-romanziere-trentino-per-anni-ignorato-in-provincia-e-finalmente-riscoperto|title=Da Tritolo a Sono Dio, storia di un grande romanziere trentino per anni ignorato in provincia e finalmente riscoperto|work=Il Dolomiti|last=Zangrando|first=Stefano|date=17 July 2019|access-date=6 February 2021|language=Italian}} His other early works include Sacrificio (2008), Cielo nero (2008), and Rogo (2015).
In 2005, Sartori published the autofictional The Anatomy of the Battle, based on his relationship with his father and their political conflicts. He described the process of writing it as a "true and proper revelation", coming to terms with aspects of his psyche and lifestyle that he had previously denied. The work was praised in the Italian literary media for its depth and focus.{{cite web|url=https://www.allegoriaonline.it/index.php/raccolte-tremila-battute/allegoria-55/218-g-sartori-qanatomia-della-battagliaq|title=Giacomo Sartori – "Anatomia della battaglia"|work=Allegoria|last=Inglese|first=Andrea|date=2005|access-date=6 February 2021|language=Italian|archive-date=17 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417024153/https://allegoriaonline.it/index.php/raccolte-tremila-battute/allegoria-55/218-g-sartori-qanatomia-della-battagliaq|url-status=dead}} It was partially translated by Frederika Randall before her death,{{cite magazine|title=From Anatomy of a battle|last1=Sartori|first1=Giacomo|last2=Randall|first2=Frederika|last3=Brock|first3=Geoffrey|magazine=The Arkansas International|date=Spring 2017|issue=2}} and he hoped to publish it in the United States.
In 2011, he published the short story collection Autismi, a collection of absurdist shorts influenced by psychoanalytic theory.{{cite web|url=https://www.satisfiction.eu/autismi-intervista-a-giacomo-sartori/|title=Autismi. Intervista a Giacomo Sartori|work=Satisfiction|last1=Melissi|first1=Paolo|last2=Sartori|first2=Giacomo|date=17 July 2018 |access-date=6 February 2021|language=Italian}} It was awarded the Frontier Grenzen, the pre-eminent literary prize of the Alps.{{cite web|url=https://www.giornaletrentino.it/cultura-e-spettacoli/giacomo-sartori-di-diritto-tra-i-magnifici-cinque-1.868957|title=Giacomo Sartori di diritto tra i "magnifici cinque"|work=Giornale Trentino|last=Martinelli|first=Carlo|date=25 October 2015|access-date=6 February 2021|language=Italian}}
''Sono Dio''
{{mainarticle|I Am God (novel)}}
In 2016, Sartori published Sono Dio, a novel from the perspective of the omnipotent and omniscent God. It was translated to English by Randall and published as I Am God in 2019.{{cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/giacomo-sartori/i-am-god-sartori/|title=I AM GOD|work=Kirkus Reviews|date=13 November 2018|access-date=2 February 2021}}
Sono Dio received positive reviews, including from major publications such as L'Indice dei libri del mese, but overall was little-noticed.{{cite web|url=https://www.lindiceonline.com/letture/narrativa-italiana/giacomo-sartori-sono-dio/|title=Giacomo Sartori – Sono Dio|work=L'Indice dei libri del mese|last=Zangrando|first=Stefano|date=1 October 2016|language=Italian|access-date=2 February 2021}}{{cite web|url=http://www.carloromeo.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=308:giacomo-sartori-e-l-editoria-usa&catid=9&Itemid=107|title=Giacomo Sartori e l'editoria USA|work=Carlo Romeo|last=Antolini|first=Roberto|date=27 June 2020|access-date=7 February 2021|language=Italian}} However, in translation, I Am God received substantial attention from publications such as The New York Times and The New Republic.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/08/books/review/i-am-god-giacomo-sartori.html|title=In This Novel, God Is Annoyed and in Love|work=The New York Times|date=8 February 2019|last=Riker|first=Martin|access-date=2 February 2021}}{{cite magazine|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/153753/writing-end-times|title=Writing for the End Times|last=Livingston|first=James|magazine=The New Republic|date=2 May 2019|access-date=2 February 2021}} It was named one of the top books of the year by the Financial Times and received multiple awards, such as the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award and the Italian Prose in Translation Award.{{cite web|url=https://literarytranslators.org/awards/ipta|title=Italian Prose in Translation Award (IPTA)|work=Italian Prose in Translation Award|access-date=6 February 2021}} Italian commentators discussed the gap in acclaim between Italy and the Anglosphere, ascribing it to Sartori's irreverence being better-received in English and to Randall's dogged perseverance, as well as the connections formed between them by his writing for Nazione Indiana.
Later works
Sartori published Baco, a speculative fiction novel about family and artificial intelligence, in 2019.{{cite web|url=http://www.pangea.news/giacomo-sartori-intervista-ippolita-luzzo/|title="C'è una contrapposizione insanabile tra un capitalismo cinico e disumano e chi resta ancorato ai valori della fratellanza". Dialogo con Giacomo Sartori|work=Pangea|last1=Luzzo|first1=Ippolita|last2=Sartori|first2=Giacomo|date=5 February 2020|access-date=7 February 2021|language=Italian}} Baco was well-received{{cite web|url=https://www.premiocomisso.it/recensioni-a-baco-di-giacomo-sartori/|title=Recensioni a "Baco" di Giacomo Sartori|work=Giovanni Comisso|last1=di Tosti|first1=Silvia|last2=Pizzato|first2=Angela|last3=Garrapa|first3=Gianluca|date=2020|access-date=7 February 2021|language=Italian}} and was a finalist for the 2020 Premio Procida Award.{{cite web|url=https://www.teleischia.com/223443/procida-premio-isola-di-arturo-annunciati-i-finalisti/|title=PROCIDA. PREMIO ISOLA DI ARTURO: ANNUNCIATI I FINALISTI!|work=Teleischia|author=Staff writer|date=6 August 2020|access-date=7 February 2021|language=Italian}} Sartori described the work as emblematic of the contrast between "a cynical and inhuman capitalism and those who remain anchored to the values of brotherhood".{{cite web|url=http://www.pangea.news/giacomo-sartori-intervista-ippolita-luzzo/|title="C'è una contrapposizione insanabile tra un capitalismo cinico e disumano e chi resta ancorato ai valori della fratellanza". Dialogo con Giacomo Sartori|work=Pangea|last1=Luzzo|first1=Ippolita|last2=Sartori|first2=Giacomo|date=5 February 2020|access-date=7 February 2021|language=Italian|quote="...un capitalismo cinico e disumano e chi resta ancorato ai valori della fratellanza."}}
Personal life
Sartori lives between Paris and Trento. He has described his unusual day job as a soil scientist as an influence on his writing style. He has also taught agricultural science at the University of Trento.
References
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Category:20th-century Italian male writers
Category:21st-century Italian male writers