Dino Buzzati-Traverso (pronounced "dee-no but-sa-tee") was born on October 16, 1906, and died on January 28, 1972. He was an Italian novelist, short story writer, painter, and poet. He also worked as a journalist for a newspaper called Corriere della Sera. His most famous work is the novel The Tartar Steppe. He is also known for his popular collections of short stories.
Life
Domenico Buzzati was born in San Pellegrino, Belluno, in his family's old home. His mother was a veterinarian and from Venice. His father was a professor of international law at Bocconi University, which had recently been created, and came from a long-standing family in Belluno. Buzzati was the second child of his parents, who had four children total. One of his brothers was Adriano Buzzati-Traverso, a well-known Italian geneticist.
After his father passed away early, Buzzati attended Giuseppe Parini High School in Milan. During this time, he became interested in Egyptian culture and the artwork of Arthur Rackham. In 1924, he began studying law at the University of Milan and graduated on October 10, 1928.
Soon after finishing his studies, Buzzati started working for the Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera. He remained there for the rest of his life. He began in the editorial department and later worked as a reporter, correspondent, essayist, editor, and art critic. His experience as a journalist influenced his writing, making even his most imaginative stories feel realistic. Buzzati once said, as reported by Lawrence Venuti:
"It seems to me that fantasy should be as close as possible to journalism. The right word is not 'banalizing,' although in fact a little of this is involved. Rather, I mean that the effectiveness of a fantastic story will depend on its being told in the most simple and practical terms."
Between 1935 and 1936, Buzzati edited a monthly supplement called La Lettura. During this time, he began writing short stories, some of which were published in Corriere della Sera. When Italy entered World War II in 1940, Buzzati was sent to Addis Ababa as a war correspondent. While working for the Regia Marina, he wrote detailed war reports that were later collected in a book titled Il Buttafuoco. Cronache di guerra sul mare. From January to the summer of 1942, Buzzati worked undercover in Messina as a war correspondent and military operator at the Marisicilia naval base.
After the war ended, The Tartar Steppe was published in Italy and quickly gained critical praise and fame. Buzzati continued writing for Corriere della Sera and became the deputy editor of the weekly newspaper La Domenica del Corriere from 1950 to 1963. Under his leadership, the weekly newspaper's sales increased significantly, often reaching nearly a million copies.
In the 1960s, Buzzati worked as a correspondent for Corriere della Sera in Japan, Jerusalem, New York, Washington, India, and Prague. Some of his articles from these trips were later included in a collection titled Cronache Terrestri, published shortly after his death. In 1966, he married Almerina Antoniazzi.
Buzzati's work as a journalist has been recognized for its literary quality, often blending news reporting with surreal storytelling. After his death in 1972, several collections of his articles were published, establishing his reputation not only as a novelist but also as a major 20th-century Italian reporter.
Buzzati's first novel, Barnabo of the Mountains, was published in 1933, followed two years later by Il segreto del Bosco Vecchio. Both books were later adapted into films. In the late 1930s, Buzzati began publishing fantastic and surreal stories in Corriere della Sera and other newspapers, such as "Seven Floors." On June 9, 1940, he published his most famous work, The Tartar Steppe. Originally titled The Fortress, the title was changed at the suggestion of Leo Longanesi. The novel was adapted into a film in 1976 and later published in France in 1949, where it was very successful.
In 1942, Buzzati published The Seven Messengers, a collection of his best short stories from his career. In the following years, he focused on publishing fantasy stories, including Paura alla Scala (1949) and Il declino della Baliverna (1954). From these collections, he selected the most representative stories for Sessanta racconti (1958), which won the Strega Prize. In 1958, he also published Esperimento di Magia. 18 Racconti. Other works from this time include the children's novel The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily, which he illustrated, and the collections In quel preciso momento and Egregio signore, siamo dispiaciuti di….
Between the 1940s and 1950s, Buzzati began writing for the theater. His most successful play, Un caso clinico, was based on his 1937 short story Sette piani. A few years later, Albert Camus adapted the story for the Parisian stage. Camus saw themes in the story that connected to his own work on the absurd, such as in The Myth of Sisyphus and The Stranger.
In 1960, Buzzati returned to writing novels with Larger than Life, a work that explored the theme of femininity, which was a new direction for him. This novel led to his more famous work, A Love Affair (1963), which tells a story of a troubled love relationship that includes some of Buzzati's personal experiences. The novel was adapted into a film in 1965.
In 1965, Buzzati published his only poetry collections: Il capitano Pic e altre poesie, Scusi, da che parte per Piazza del Duomo?, and Tre colpi alla porta. The next year, he published a new collection of short stories, Il colombo e altri quattro racconti, followed by La boutique del mistero in 1967, which gathered thirty-one stories from his previous works.
Buzzati's final works include Poem Strip (1969), a blend of a novel and comic book that reimagines the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in a pop style; Le notti difficili (1971), a collection of short stories and editorials about death; and I miracoli di Val Morel (1971), a collection of paintings and short comments about fake miracles attributed to Saint Rita. Buzzati died of cancer in 1972 after a long illness. His ashes were scattered on Croda da Lago in the Dolomites in the summer of 2010.
Works summary
Domenico Buzzati began writing fiction in 1933. His works include five novels, plays for theatre and radio, libretti for operas, books of short stories, and poetry. He wrote libretti for four operas by Luciano Chailly and one for La giacca dannata by Giulio Viozzi.
He authored a children’s book, La famosa invasione degli orsi in Sicilia, which was translated into English as The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily by Frances Lobb. Lemony Snicket wrote an introduction and reader’s companion for a 2005 English edition of this book.
Buzzati was also an artist. He combined his skills in painting and writing to create a comic book based on the myth of Orpheus, titled Poem Strip. He once said, “For me, painting and writing are the same thing.” As both a painter and writer, Buzzati was deeply influenced by the metaphysical painting style of Giorgio de Chirico. This influence is visible in the dreamlike and slightly unsettling atmosphere of his work.
His most famous novel, The Tartar Steppe, follows the story of a military outpost waiting for a Tartar invasion. The novel’s themes and ideas have been compared to works of existentialism, such as Albert Camus’s The Myth of Sisyphus.
Buzzati’s writing is sometimes described as magical realism or social alienation. His stories often explore themes like the impact of technology on the environment and the tension between fantasy and reality. He wrote many short stories featuring unusual creatures, such as the bogeyman and a creature he invented, the colomber (il colombre). His collection of sixty stories, Sessanta racconti, which won the Strega Prize in 1958, includes elements of science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
In modern culture
In 2019, Lachlan Caskey, a musician from the band Last Dinosaurs, also known as Notes From Under Ground, mentioned Buzzati on his solo album Partner. He used Buzzati's name as the title of one of the songs.