Susanna Tamaro Explained

Susanna Tamaro
Birth Date:12 December 1957
Birth Place:Trieste, Italy
Occupation:Novelist, film director
Known For:Follow Your Heart (1994)

Susanna Tamaro (pronounced as /it/; born 12 December 1957)[1] is an Italian novelist and film director. She is an author of novels, stories, magazine articles, and children's literature. Her novel Italian: [[Follow Your Heart (novel)|Va' dove ti porta il cuore]] (Follow Your Heart) was a worldwide bestseller, translated into 44 languages and awarded with the 1994 Italian: Premio Donna Città di Roma|i=no.

Early life and education

Susanna Tamaro was born in Trieste in 1957 to a family of Jewish origins on her mother's side; she is a distant relative of the Italian writer Italo Svevo.[2] [3] She has described her father as an alcoholic and her mother as "cold and cruel". After her parents separated, she was raised in Trieste by her maternal grandmother[4] and then by a care home.[5]

She received a scholarship to study at the Italian: [[Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia]]|i=no, an Italian school of cinema located in Rome, where she obtained a diploma in direction in 1977, beginning to work with director Salvatore Samperi.[5] [6] She worked as a writer and editor in the television industry for several years.[6]

Writing career

In 1978, she started writing her first short stories. Her first novel Illmitz was completed in 1981 but rejected by all the publishing houses she approached. It was eventually published in 2013.[7]

In 1989, her novel Italian: La testa fra le nuvole (Head in the Clouds) was published by Marsilio. Her second novel Italian: Per voce sola (Solo Voice, 1991) won the International PEN prize and was translated into several languages. Federico Fellini said of her second novel, "It has given me the joy of being moved without embarrassing me, as it happened to me when I read Oliver Twist or certain pages of Amerika, by Kafka." In 1991, she wrote a book for children Cuore di ciccia.

Her 1993 novel Italian: [[Follow Your Heart (novel)|Va' dove ti porta il cuore]] (Follow Your Heart) did not receive favorable reception from critics when it was first published,[8] [9] but it became a bestseller[10] [11] [12] [13] and sold 15 million copies by 2008. It is described as the "Italian book most sold in the 20th century";[14] as of 2008, about 25,000 copies had sold in the United States.[15] The novel won the Premio Donna Citta di Roma award in 1994.[16] [17] By 2002, it was translated into 44 languages. In 1996, the Italian director, Cristina Comencini, made a film of the same name based on the novel.[18]

In 1997, she published the novel Latin: Anima Mundi, and was widely criticized for her portrayal of Father Walter in what she described as "a shameful campaign" of "insults, threats and slander".[19] [20] In 1998, she published Dear Matildha – I Can't Wait for Man to Walk, a collection of articles she wrote for Italian: [[Famiglia Cristiana]], an Italian magazine.

Her book Italian: Rispondimi (Answer Me) was described by Kirkus Reviews as "Holy abstractions brightened by dollops of sex and violence."[21] The book consists of three stories, featuring the daughter of a prostitute, the wife of a businessman, and a jealous husband. A review by World Literature Today states, "The book's title comes from the closing passage of the first story, when Rosa, alone in the world, asks a stray white dog (a white dog appears in each story) if Someone guides us or if we are alone in the world. When the dog just looks at her with its tongue hanging out, she tells it to speak, to answer her: 'Italian: Rispondimi|i=no'."[22] A review in Library Journal refers to the protagonists in each story and concludes, "Their bitterness at the world and inability to love or be loved is so off-putting that the reader is likely to stop caring long before they reach their moments of truth. Not recommended."[23] A review by Publishers Weekly states, "If Tamaro's view is dark, the care she takes with character development infuses her narratives with a clear and resonant moral vision."[24]

In 2001, she wrote Italian: Raccontami. In 2002, she wrote Italian: Più fuoco, più vento; in 2003 Italian: Fuori. In 2005, she directed the film Italian: Nel mio amore, based on a story from Answer Me, titled "Hell Does Not Exist". In 2006, she published Italian: Ascolta la mia voce (Listen to My Voice), a sequel of Follow your Heart.[25] This novel was translated in twelve languages. In 2008, she published Luisito – A Love Story.

In September 2018, she announced the release of her next book, anticipating that in it she would discuss how she was affected by Asperger syndrome since the early years of life.[26]

Documentary

In 2021, a documentary about Tamaro titled Italian: Inedita was shown at the Rome Film Festival and then on television in Italy on channel Rai 5.[27] [28] In the documentary, she discusses her life with Asperger's syndrome, her writing career, and her various interests, including bicycle repair, beekeeping, and the practice of martial arts.[27]

Awards and honors

Works

Filmography

Personal life

Tamaro described herself as a "strange child", being treated by neurologists and taking medications from an early age; later in her childhood she read about Asperger's syndrome and was finally diagnosed with the disorder.[5] She claims to have experienced gender dysphoria since the age of 3.[5]

In a 2002 interview, Tamaro called herself an environmentalist, a vegetarian, and "a Christian more than a Catholic" due to the religious beliefs of her family, including her father's interest in Taoism and her mother's Jewish heritage. she has lived near Orvieto with the writer for 35 years; she has referred to the relationship as a "spiritual friendship", stating that she is not a lesbian.[5]

Tamaro has expressed her opposition to abortion.[5]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Susanna Tamaro . Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors . 30 November 2003 . Gale . 15 March 2022.
  2. News: Valle . Annachiara . 60 anni di Susanna Tamaro sotto l'ala dell'angelo tremendo dell'amore . 17 March 2022 . . December 12, 2017.
  3. «La famiglia di mia madre, Veneziani, era di origine ebraica». "Tamaro: perché dico no ai falsi valori" sul sito corriere.it
  4. News: Susanna Tamaro sana su corazon a traves de la literatura . 17 March 2022 . El Universal de México . . January 31, 2013. es. Gale.
  5. Web site: Susanna Tamaro: 'La mia infanzia in un corpo sbagliato. A tre anni dissi che volevo chiamarmi Carlo'. it. 8 March 2024. Today. 22 May 2024.
  6. News: Susanna Tamaro, scrittrice: biografia e curiosità . 17 March 2022 . Italiaonline . December 2, 2016.
  7. News: Perazzolo . Paolo . Susanna Tamaro, il romanzo misterioso . 17 March 2022 . . December 10, 2013.
  8. d Aquino . Niccolo . Susanna Tamaro . Europe . April 1995 . 345 . 38. ProQuest.
  9. Tonkin . Boyd . Short books about dying -- Follow Your Heart by Susanna Tamaro / Oblivion by Josephine Hart . New Statesman & Society . June 30, 1995 . 8 . 359 . 40. ProQuest.
  10. News: Solomon . Charles . FOLLOW YOUR HEART by Susanna Tamaro . 17 March 2022 . . August 25, 2006.
  11. News: Marshall . Lee . Just one little lie . 17 March 2022 . . 24 June 1995.
  12. News: Kellaway . Kate . One from the heart Italians have bought a million copies of SUSANNA TAMARO's 'Follow Your Heart'. Kate Kellaway finds out why . . 25 June 1995. ProQuest.
  13. News: Williams . Daniel . Italian Page-Turner . . 4 Dec 1995. ProQuest.
  14. News: Il successo di «Va' dove ti porta il cuore», tra i «Grandi Libri» al Salone di Torino. Corriere della Sera. April 27, 2011.
  15. News: Povoledo . Elisabetta . Coming to America from Italy - No, not another mafia story . 16 March 2022 . New York Times . August 3, 2008.
  16. News: Follow Your Heart . 17 March 2022 . . August 1, 1995.
  17. Dekle . Shannon . Tamaro, Susanna. Follow Your Heart. . . July 1, 1995 . 120 . 12 . 124. EBSCOhost.
  18. News: Follow Your Heart . 17 March 2022 . . March 3, 1996.
  19. News: Martínez . Sanjuana . Susanna Tamaro: "El amor del Evangelio provoca odio" . 17 March 2022 . . March 24, 2002. es.
  20. News: Gumbel . Andrew . Novelist pays a bitter price for popularity; Susanna Tamaro's success provokes the literati to pick up poison pens. . June 16, 1997.
  21. News: Rispondimi . 17 March 2022 . . January 15, 2002.
  22. King . Martha . Reviewed Work: Rispondimi by Susanna Tamaro . . Spring 2002 . 76 . 2 . 218–219 . 10.2307/40157461 . 17 March 2022 . Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma. 40157461 .
  23. DeZelar-Tiedman . Christine . Rispondimi (Book) . . April 1, 2002 . 127 . 6. EBSCOhost.
  24. RISPONDIMI (Book) . . February 4, 2002 . 249 . 5. EBSCOhost.
  25. News: Hoffman . Matthew . Listen to my Voice, By Susanna Tamaro, trs John Cullen . 17 March 2022 . . 23 November 2008.
  26. News: Tamaro . Susanna . La sfida di Susanna Tamaro: «La mia vita con l'Asperger» . . 17 September 2018 . 1 October 2018. it.
  27. News: Susanna Tamaro senza maschere in un docu . 17 March 2022 . . December 26, 2021 . it.
  28. Web site: Susanna Tamaro: Unplugged . . 17 March 2022.
  29. Web site: I nostri autori . Premio Italo Calvino . 17 March 2022.
  30. Web site: LE VINCITRICI DELLE SCORSE EDIZIONI . Rapallo Carige . 17 March 2022.
  31. Web site: Premio letturatura ragazzi . Fondazione Casa di Risparmio Cento . 17 March 2022.
  32. News: Grandmother writes to her granddaughter heart-to-heart. . Zipp . Yvonne . Christian Science Monitor . October 30, 1995 . 88. 4.
  33. Web site: Sellers . John A. . Roback . Diane . Bologna 2016: Wrapping Up a Quietly Busy Fair . Publishers Weekly . April 12, 2016. 17 March 2022.
  34. News: Jays . David . Destroyed by happiness . 17 March 2022 . . 22 February 2003.
  35. Kindrick . Erica . El gran árbol . . 2010 . 56 . 11. EBSCOhost.
  36. News: BRASILIA, THE PLEASURE OF READING SUSANNA TAMARO IN ITALIAN . 17 March 2022 . States News Service . August 21, 2019. Gale.
  37. News: Nota Benes, May 2018 . 17 March 2022 . . May 2018.
  38. News: Degl'Innocenti . Fulvia . Susanna Tamaro: la bambina "strana" con l'Asperger salvata dai libri . 17 March 2022 . . February 18, 2019.