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{{Short description|Italian writer (1906–1972)}}
{{inline|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name = Dino Buzzati
| image = Dino Buzzati.jpg
| caption = Buzzati, 1950s
| birth_date = {{birth-date|16 October 1906}}
| birth_place = [[San Pellegrino di Belluno]], Italy
| death_date = {{death-date|28 January 1972}} (age 65)
| death_place = [[Milan]], Italy
| occupation = Graphic artist, novelist, short story writer, journalist
| genre = [[Novel]], [[short story]]
| movement = [[Magical realism]]
| notable_works = ''[[The Tartar Steppe]]''
| signature = Buzzati signature.png
| education = [[University of Milan]]
}}
'''Dino Buzzati-Traverso''' ({{IPA|it|ˈdiːno butˈtsaːti}}; 16 October 1906 – 28 January 1972) was an Italian novelist, short story writer, painter and poet, as well as a journalist for ''[[Corriere della Sera]]''. His worldwide fame is mostly due to his novel ''[[The Tartar Steppe]]'', although he is also known for his well-received collections of short stories.

==Life==

=== Early life and education ===
Buzzati was born in San Pellegrino, [[Belluno]], in his family's ancestral villa. Buzzati's mother, a veterinarian by profession, was [[Venice|Venetian]] and his father, a professor of [[international law]] at the newly founded [[Bocconi University]], was from an old Bellunese family. Buzzati was the second of his parents' four children. One of his brothers was the well-known Italian geneticist [[Adriano Buzzati-Traverso]].

After the premature death of his father, Buzzati enrolled at the Giuseppe Parini High School in Milan. During this time, he developed a keen interest in [[Culture of Egypt|Egyptian culture]] and the work of [[Arthur Rackham]]. In 1924, he enrolled in the law faculty of the [[University of Milan]], where he graduated on 10 October 1928.

=== Journalism ===
Shortly after finishing his studies, Buzzati was hired by the Milanese newspaper ''[[Corriere della Sera]]'', where he worked until his death. He began in the editorial department. Later he worked as a reporter, special correspondent, essayist, editor, and art critic. It is often said that his journalistic background informs his writing, lending even the most fantastic tales an aura of realism. Buzzati himself commented on the connection (as cited by [[Lawrence Venuti]]):
{{quote|text=It seems to me, 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.<ref>''Restless Nights – Selected Stories of Dino Buzzati'' (Introduction by [[Lawrence Venuti|L. Venuti]]) (North Point Press, 1983)</ref>}}
Between 1935 and 1936, he edited the monthly supplement ''La Lettura''. It was during this period that he started writing short stories, some of which were published in the ''Corriere della Sera''. When Italy entered the [[World War II|Second World War]] in 1940, Buzzati was sent as a war correspondent to [[Addis Ababa]]. Serving as a journalist attached to the [[Regia Marina]], he wrote extensive war reports which were collected in 1992 in the volume ''Il Buttafuoco. Cronache di guerra sul mare''. From January to the summer of 1942, Buzzati remained in [[Messina]] undercover, working as a war correspondent and military operator at the Marisicilia naval base.

After the end of the war, ''The Tartar Steppe'' was published nationwide in Italy and quickly brought critical recognition and fame to the author. Buzzati continued to write for ''Corriere della Sera'', becoming the deputy editor of the weekly newspaper ''[[La Domenica del Corriere]]'' from 1950 to 1963. Under his leadership, the weekly saw an exceptional increase in sales, often approaching a million copies.

=== The early 1960s ===
In the 1960s Buzzati was sent a correspondent for the ''Corriere'' in [[Japan]], [[Jerusalem]], [[New York City|New York]], [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]], [[India]] and [[Prague]]. Some of the articles written during these trips were later included in ''Cronache'' ''Terrestri'', a collection of around a hundred journalistic pieces published shortly after the author's death. In 1966 he married Almerina Antoniazzi.

Buzzati’s work as a journalist for has been widely recognized posthumously for its literary quality, frequently blurring the lines between news reporting and surreal storytelling.{{sfn|Venuti|1982|pp=79-91}} Following his death in 1972, several anthologies of his articles were published, establishing his reputation not only as a novelist but as a major 20th-century Italian reporter.

=== Literary career ===
[[File:Dino-Buzzati-signing.jpg|thumb|Buzzati signing a book, 1960s]]
Buzzati's debut novel, ''[[Barnabo of the Mountains]]'', was published in 1933, followed two years later by ''[[Il segreto del Bosco Vecchio]]''. Both works were later adapted into films: the former by [[Mario Brenta]] in 1994 and the latter by [[Ermanno Olmi]] in 1993. In the late 1930s, Buzzati began publishing fantastic and surreal stories in ''Corriere della Sera'' and other newspapers, such as "[[Seven Floors]]". On 9 June 1940, he published his greatest success: ''The Tartar Steppe''. Written the previous year, the original title was ''The Fortress'', but this was changed at the suggestion of [[Leo Longanesi]]. The novel was adapted into a film by [[Valerio Zurlini]] in 1976. In 1949, the novel was published in France and met with great success.

In 1942, Buzzati published ''[[The Seven Messengers]]'', a collection of the finest short stories published in various magazines and newspapers throughout his career. In the following years, Buzzati mainly published collections of fantasy stories: ''Paura alla Scala'' in 1949 and ''Il declino della Baliverna'' in 1954. From these first three collections, Buzzati selected the most representative stories, which he published alongside other texts in the 1958 volume ''Sessanta racconti'', winner of the [[Strega Prize]]. In 1958, he also published ''Esperimento di Magia. 18 Racconti''. Other publications that appeared during this period include the children's novel ''[[The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily]]'', which was illustrated by the author, and the collections ''In quel preciso momento'' and ''Egregio signore, siamo dispiaciuti di....''

Between the 1940s and 1950s, Buzzati started writing for theatre. His major success in this field came in 1953 with ''Un caso clinico'', a comedy based on his 1937 short story ''Sette piani'', which was adapted for the Parisian stage a few years later by [[Albert Camus]]. Camus found in this story an echo of the themes of the absurd he had explored in ''[[The Myth of Sisyphus]]'' and ''[[The Stranger (Camus novel)|The Stranger]]''.

In 1960, Buzzati returned to the novel format with ''[[Larger than Life (novel)|Larger than Life]]'', a work that addressed the theme of femininity{{snd}}a departure from the author's previous output. This novel anticipated his more famous work, ''[[A Love Affair]]'' (1963), which centres on a tormented love story in which some of the writer's autobiographical experiences can be discerned. A realistic, erotic novel, ''A Love Affair'' stunned critics and readers alike for its crude objectivity that departed sharply from Buzzati's [[magical realism]].{{sfn|Schneider|1969|p=292}} The novel was later adapted into the 1965 film ''[[Un amore (1965 film)|Un Amore]]'' by Gianni Vernuccio.

In 1965, Buzzati published his only collections of poetry: ''Il capitano Pic e altre poesie'', ''Scusi, da che parte per Piazza del Duomo?'', and ''Tre colpi alla porta''. The following year, he published a new collection of short stories, ''Il colombo e altri quattro racconti'', followed two years later by ''La boutique del mistero'', which brings together thirty-one stories taken from all the previous collections.

[[File:Photo Mario Castellani, Nando Gazzolo, Carlo Ninchi and Laura Solari during the performance of the comedy Drammatica fine di un noto musicista by Dino Buzzati 1955 - Touring Club Italiano 04 2252.jpg|thumb|The comedy ''Drammatica fine di un noto musicista'' by Buzzati, 1955]]

Buzzati's last works are the controversial and celebrated ''[[Poem Strip]]'' (1969), a work halfway between a novel and a comic book, which reworks the myth of [[Orpheus and Eurydice]] in a pop style; ''Le notti difficili'' (1971), a collection of short stories and editorials focused on death; and ''I miracoli di Val Morel'' (1971), a collection of paintings and short comments centered on fake miracles, which, according to the author, were attributed to Saint Rita by popular tradition. In 1972, Buzzati died of cancer after a protracted illness.<ref>''Dino Buzzati d'hier et d'aujourd'hui: à la mémoire de Nella Giannetto. Actes du colloque international'', Besançon, Presses universitaires de Franche-Comté, 2008, p. 329.</ref>. His ashes were scattered on [[Croda da Lago]] in the [[Dolomites]] in the summer of 2010.

==Works summary==
Buzzati began writing fiction in 1933. His works of fiction include five novels, theatre and radio plays, [[libretto]]s, numerous books of short stories, and poetry. His libretti include four for operas by [[Luciano Chailly]], as well as one for ''La giacca dannata'' by [[Giulio Viozzi]].

He wrote a children's book, ''La famosa invasione degli orsi in Sicilia'' (translated by [[Leila Buckley|Frances Lobb]] into English as ''[[The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily]]''). [[Lemony Snicket]] wrote an introduction and reader's companion to a 2005 English edition.

Also an artist, Buzzati combined his artistic and writing exploits into making a [[comic book]] based on the myth of [[Orpheus]], ''[[Poem Strip]]''. Commenting on the graphic element, he once explained that "for me, painting and writing are the same thing."<ref>Emanuele Occhipinti, Novecento and the Contemporary Period (Narrative and Theatre). ''The Year's Work in Modern Language Studies'', Vol. 78 (2018), pp. 314-323, at 318. </ref> As both a painter and a writer, Buzzati was profoundly influenced by [[Giorgio de Chirico]]'s [[metaphysical painting]].{{sfn|Chomel|1979|pp=16-22}} This influence is evident in the surreal atmosphere of suspended expectation and subtle anguish that defines his work.

''[[The Tartar Steppe]]'', his most famous novel, tells the story of a military outpost that awaits a [[Tatars|Tartar]] invasion. In its sentiment and its conclusions, it has been compared to [[Existentialism|existentialist]] works, notably [[Albert Camus]]'s ''[[The Myth of Sisyphus]]''.<ref>''Sem' Gontsov'' (Introduction by E. Ambartsumov) (Izvestiya Press, 1985)</ref>

His writing is sometimes cited as [[Magic realism|magical realism]] or [[social alienation]]. The fate of the environment and fantasy in the face of unbridled technological progress are recurring themes. He wrote a variety of short stories featuring fantastic animals such as the [[bogeyman]] and, his own invention, the colomber (''il colombre''). His ''[[Sessanta racconti]]'' collection of sixty stories, which won the Strega Prize in 1958, features elements of [[science fiction]], [[fantasy]], and [[Horror fiction|horror]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.premiostrega.it/la-storia/vincitori/246/sessanta-racconti|title=Sessanta racconti|language=it|work=premiostrega.it|publisher=[[Strega Prize]]|access-date=2015-07-13|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140621145422/http://www.premiostrega.it/la-storia/vincitori/246/sessanta-racconti|archive-date=2014-06-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fantascienza.com/catalogo/autori/NILF10743/dino-buzzati/|title=Buzzati Dino|website=www.fantascienza.com}}</ref>

==In modern culture==
[[J. M. Coetzee]]'s novel ''[[Waiting for the Barbarians]]'' (1980) was heavily influenced by Buzzati's ''The Tartar Steppe.''<ref>{{cite news
|last = Kenny
|first = Glenn
|author-link = Glenn Kenny
|date = 6 August 2020
|title = Waiting for the Barbarians’ Review: An Aestheticized Fable of Colonialism
|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]
|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/06/movies/waiting-for-the-barbarians-review.html
|access-date = 20 August 2026
}}</ref> In 2019, the Australian singer, songwriter, and guitarist from [[Last Dinosaurs]] Lachlan Caskey, known as Notes From Under Ground, referenced Buzzati on his solo album ''Partner'' by making his name one of the song titles.

==Works==
* ''[[Bàrnabo delle montagne]]'' (1933). ''Barnabo of the Mountains'', trans. [[Lawrence Venuti]], included in ''The Siren'' (1984)
* ''[[Il segreto del Bosco Vecchio]]'' (1935). ''The Secret of the Old Woods''
* ''Il deserto dei Tartari'' (1940). ''[[The Tartar Steppe]]'', trans. [[Stuart C. Hood]] (Secker & Warburg, 1952); also as ''The Stronghold'', trans. Lawrence Venuti (New York Review Books, 2023)
* ''I sette messaggeri'' (1942, short stories''). [[The Seven Messengers]]''
* ''La famosa invasione degli orsi in Sicilia'' (1945). ''[[The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily]]'', trans. [[Leila Buckley|Frances Lobb]] (Pantheon, 1947)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Buzzati |first=Dino |url=http://archive.org/details/bearsfamousinvas0000buzz |title=The bears' famous invasion of Sicily |date=2016 |publication-place=Richmond |publisher=Alma Books Ltd |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-84749-572-3}}</ref>
* ''In quel preciso momento'' (1950)
* ''Il crollo della Baliverna'' (1954)
* ''[[Sessanta racconti]]'' (1958, short stories). ''Sixty Stories''
* ''Il grande ritratto'' (1960). ''[[Larger than Life (novel)|Larger than Life]]'', trans. Henry Reed (Secker & Warburg, 1962); also as ''The Singularity'', trans. Anne Milano Appel (New York Review Books, 2024)
* ''Un amore'' (1963). ''[[A Love Affair]]'', trans. Joseph Green (Farrar Straus, 1964)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Buzzati |first=Dino |url=http://archive.org/details/loveaffair00buzz |title=A love affair |date=1964 |publication-place=New York|publisher=Farrar, Straus |others=Internet Archive}}</ref>
* ''Il capitano Pic e altre poesie'' (1965, poetry)
* ''Cacciatori di vecchio'' (1966, novel)
* ''[[Il colombre]]'' (1966, short stories)
* ''Poema a fumetti'' (1969, comic book). ''[[Poem Strip]]'', trans. Marina Harss (New York Review Books, 2009)
* ''Dino Buzzati al Giro d'Italia'' (1981, nonfiction), ''The Giro d'Italia; Coppi versus Bartali at the 1949 Tour of Italy'', trans. Julia Amari, Velo Press, {{ISBN|978-1-884737-51-0}}
* ''Il reggimento parte all'alba'' (1985, short stories). ''The Regiment Leaves at Dawn''
'''Compilations in English'''
* ''Catastrophe and Other Stories'', trans. Judith Landry and Cynthia Jolly (Calder, 1965)
* ''Restless Nights: Selected Stories of Dino Buzzati'', trans. Lawrence Venuti (North Point Press, 1983)
* ''The Siren: A Selection from Dino Buzzati'', trans. Lawrence Venuti (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1984)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Buzzati |first=Dino |url=http://archive.org/details/sirenselectionfr0000buzz |title=The siren : a selection from Dino Buzzati |date=1984 |publication-place=San Francisco |publisher= North Point Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-86547-159-7}}</ref>
* ''[[The Bewitched Bourgeois: Fifty Stories]]'', trans. Lawrence Venuti (New York Review Books, 2025)
* ''La boutique del mistero'', Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milano 1968, {{ISBN|978-88-04-48770-8}}

== Awards and honours ==
* 1951: Gargano Prize, for ''In quel preciso momento''
* 1954: Naples Prize, for ''Il crollo della Baliverna''
* 1958: [[Strega Prize]], for ''Sessanta racconti''
* 1969: [[Paese Sera]] Prize, for ''Poema a fumetti''
* 1970: All’Amalia Prize
* 1970: Mario Massai Prize

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book
|last1 = Gianfranceschi
|first1 = Fausto
|date = 1967
|title = Dino Buzzati
|location = Turin
|publisher = Borla
}}
* {{cite journal
|last1 = Schneider
|first1 = Marilyn
|date = 1969
|title = Beyond the Eroticism of Dino Buzzati's ''Un amore''
|journal = Italica
|volume = 46
|issue = 3
|doi = 10.2307/477807
|pages = 292-299
}}
* {{cite journal
|last1 = Chomel
|first1 = Luisetta
|date = 1979
|title = Structure of Anguish in Buzzati and De Chirico
|journal = [[The Comparatist]]
|volume = 3
|jstor = 44366651
|pages = 16-22
}}
* {{cite journal
|last1 = Venuti
|first1 = Lawrence
|date = 1982
|title = Dino Buzzati's Fantastic Journalism
|journal = [[Modern Fiction Studies]]
|volume = 28
|issue = 1
|pages = 79-91
|jstor = 26281280
}}
* {{cite journal
|last1 = Montiel
|first1 = Luis
|date = 2010
|title = Una meditatio mortis contemporánea. La reflexión de Dino Buzzati sobre la caducidad de la vida humana
|journal = Medicina & Historia
|volume = 2
|url = https://www.fu1838.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2010-2.pdf
|pages = 1–15
|access-date = 13 April 2026
}}
* {{cite news
|last = Lethem
|first = Jonathan
|author-link = Jonathan Lethem
|date = 14 July 2025
|title = A Master of Surrealist Fiction and a Bard for Anxious Times
|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/books/review/dino-buzzati-stronghold-bewitched-bourgeois.html
|work = [[The New York Times Book Review]]
|access-date = 16 May 2026
}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
* {{Official website|http://www.dinobuzzati.it/}} {{in lang|it}}
* {{IMDb name|nm0125635}}
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080419085743/http://www.geocities.com/athens/delphi/8892/bio.html |date=April 19, 2008 |title=Biography }} {{in lang|it}}
* [http://saradisantoprada.blogspot.fr/ Il coraggio della bontà – Dino Buzzati e don Zeno Saltini: cronaca di un'amicizia]
* [http://www.ant-art.net/index-db.htm Dino Buzzati et la Ville - Dino Buzzati and the city, the webpage of french artist Alexandre Nezeys Tacconi]

{{Strega Prize}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buzzati, Dino}}
[[Category:Dino Buzzati|*]]
[[Category:1906 births]]
[[Category:1972 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Belluno]]
[[Category:Italian atheists]]
[[Category:Italian comics artists]]
[[Category:Italian comics writers]]
[[Category:Italian male short story writers]]
[[Category:Italian sports journalists]]
[[Category:20th-century Italian male journalists]]
[[Category:20th-century Italian journalists]]
[[Category:Italian children's writers]]
[[Category:Strega Prize winners]]
[[Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Lombardy]]
[[Category:Italian opera librettists]]
[[Category:Writers who illustrated their own writing]]
[[Category:20th-century Italian novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Italian male novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Italian dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century Italian male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century Italian short story writers]]
[[Category:Magical realism writers]]

Dino Buzzati - Revision history

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