Italo Svevo
Born 1861 · Died 1928
From Trieste, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy · Nationality: Austria–Hungary, Kingdom of Italy · Writes fiction
Aron Ettore Schmitz (December 19, 1861 – September 13, 1928), better known by the pseudonym Italo Svevo, was an Italian businessman and author of novels, plays, and short stories.
Born in Trieste (then in Austria-Hungary) to a Jewish family, Italo Svevo (literally swabian Italian) wrote the classic novel La Coscienza di Zeno (rendered as Confessions of Zeno, or Zeno's Conscience) and self-published it in 1923. The work, showing the author's interest in the theories of Sigmund Freud, is written in the form of the memoirs of one Zeno Cosini, who writes them at the insistence of his psychoanalyst. Schmitz's psychoanalyst was Ottocaro Weiss, who had been trained by Freud in Vienna. Schmitz's novel received almost no attention from Italian readers and critics at the time.
The work might have disappeared altogether if it were not for the efforts of James Joyce. Joyce had met Schmitz in 1907, when Joyce tutored him in English while working for Berlitz in Trieste. Joyce read Schmitz's earlier novel Senilità, which had also been largely ignored when published in 1898.
Joyce championed Confessions of Zeno, helping to have it translated into French and then published in Paris, where critics praised it extravagantly. That led Italian critics, including Eugenio Montale, to discover it. Zeno Cosini, the book's hero, mirrored Schmitz, being a businessman fascinated by Freudian theory.
Schmitz was also a model for Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Joyce's Ulysses.
Quotes
“La vita non è né brutta né bella, ma è originale!”
La coscienza di Zeno “La malattia è una convinzione ed io nacqui con quella convinzione.”
La coscienza di Zeno “Ora so di averle inventate. Ma inventare è una creazione, non già una menzogna.”
La coscienza di Zeno “È un modo comodo di vivere quello di credersi grande di una grandezza latente.”
La coscienza di Zeno
Quotes from Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Books by Italo Svevo in order
Books by Italo Svevo in the order they were published, from A Life (1930) to Coscienza Di Zeno (Illustrato) : (2021).
- 1A Life
A Life1930 - 2Confessions of Zeno
Confessions of Zeno1930 - 3Emilio's Carnival
Emilio's Carnival2001 - 4Zeno's Conscience
Zeno's Conscience2001 - 5I Tre Romanzi Di Italo SvevoI Tre Romanzi Di Italo Svevo2019
- 6Novella Del Buon Vecchio E Della Bella FanciullaNovella Del Buon Vecchio E Della Bella Fanciulla2019
- 7Burla RiuscitaBurla Riuscita2020
- 8Coscienza Di Zeno (Illustrato) :Coscienza Di Zeno (Illustrato) :2021
- 9As a Man Grow OlderAs a Man Grow Older
- 10As a Man Grows Older
As a Man Grows Older - 11Autobiografisch Profiel
Autobiografisch Profiel - 12De Goede Oude Man En Het Mooie Jonge Meisje
De Goede Oude Man En Het Mooie Jonge Meisje - 13Die Kunst, sich das Rauchen nicht abzugewöhnen
Die Kunst, sich das Rauchen nicht abzugewöhnen - 14Die Novelle vom guten alten Herrn und vom schönen Mädchen
Die Novelle vom guten alten Herrn und vom schönen Mädchen - 15Een Man Wordt Ouder
Een Man Wordt Ouder - 16Further Confessions of Zeno
Further Confessions of Zeno - 17James Joyce
James Joyce - 18La Coscienza Di Zeno
La Coscienza Di Zeno - 19Migliora Il Tuo Italiano
Migliora Il Tuo Italiano - 20Teatro
Teatro - 21Umbertino
Umbertino - 22Una burla riuscita
Una burla riuscita - 23Una vita, romanzo di Italo SvevoUna vita, romanzo di Italo Svevo