Italo Svevo

Italo Svevo, the pen name of Aron Hector Schmitz, was born in 1861 in Trieste and died in 1928 in Motta di Livenza, in the province of Treviso, following a car accident. Coming from a wealthy Jewish family, Svevo pursued commercial studies. Upon marrying, he converted to Catholicism and took over the management of his father-in-law's business. However, his true passion was literature. His first short story, "The Murder of Via Belpoggio," was published in 1890 in the Trieste newspaper "L' Indipendente." Yet, his first two novels, "A Life" and "As a Man Grows Older," went unnoticed, leading Svevo to decide to abandon literature. He was persuaded otherwise by his English teacher, none other than James Joyce, who was then teaching at the Berlitz School in Trieste. Svevo followed Joyce's advice to continue writing, albeit with a 25-year delay: in 1923, he published "Zeno's Conscience." Joyce, by then in Paris, introduced it to the intellectual circles of the French capital, resulting in rave reviews for Svevo's book. This sparked the "Svevo affair," when Italian intellectuals, led by Eugenio Montale, claimed they had "discovered" the author before the French. This was followed by the novellas "A Generous Wine" in 1927 and "A Successful Hoax" in 1928. After his death, various works of his were published, such as "A Short Sentimental Journey," "Essays and Scattered Pages," "Comedies," and "Diary for the Fiancée."