Carlo Levi
Carlo Levi, (b. Nov. 29, 1902, Turin, Italy—d. Jan. 4, 1975,
Rome), Italian writer, painter, and political journalist
whose first documentary novel became an international
literary sensation and enhanced the trend toward social
realism in postwar Italian literature.
Levi was a painter and a
practicing physician when he was exiled (1935–36) to the
southern district of Lucania for anti-Fascist activities.
His Cristo si č fermato a Eboli (1945; Christ Stopped at
Eboli) reflects the visual sensitivity of a painter and the
compassionate objectivity of a doctor. Quickly acclaimed a
literary masterpiece, it was widely translated.
Though Levi’s first novel
is unquestionably his masterpiece, he wrote other important
nonfiction works. His Paura della libertą (1947; Of Fear and
Freedom) proclaims the necessity of intellectual freedom
despite an inherent human dread of it. L’orologio (1950; The
Watch) deals with a postwar Cabinet crisis in Rome; Le
parole sono pietre (1955; Words Are Stones) is a study of
Sicily; and La doppia notte dei tigli (1959; The Linden
Trees, or The Two-Fold Night) is a presentation of postwar
Germany.
Levi directed a periodical
in Florence for a time and contributed to several other
magazines. Later he devoted himself to painting.
