Cassieri, Giuseppe 1926-

PERSONAL:

Born January 23, 1926; son of Nicola and Carmela Cassieri; married Mariella Tedeschi, 1952. Education: Litt.D., Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—c/o Author Mail, Liguori Publications, 1 Liguori Dr., Liguori, MI 63057-9999.

CAREER:

Writer and publicist. Contributor to Il messaggero, TV-RAI 3d Program, and several Italian and foreign reviews.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Veillon International Prize, for Dov abita il prossimo; Fiera Letteraria Prize, for Le caste pareti.

WRITINGS:

Aria cupa, romanzo, Casa Editrice Mediterranea (Rome, Italy), 1952.

Dove abita il prossimo, Vallecchi (Florence, Italy), 1954.

La Ronda, antologia, L. Landi (Florence, Italy), 1955.

(With Emilio Cecchi) Antologia a cura Giuseppe Cassieri, L. Landi (Florence, Italy), 1955.

I delfini sulle tombe, Vallecchi (Florence, Italy), 1958, reprinted, Bompiani (Milan, Italy), 1982.

La siesta [racconti], Sodalizio (Venice, Italy), 1959.

La cocuzza [un romanzo comico e grottesco, pietoso e crudele], V. Bompiani (Milan, Italy), 1960, translated as The Bald Man, Secker & Warburg (London, England), 1963.

Notturno d'albergo, Feltrinelli (Milan, Italy), 1961.

Il calcinaccio; romanzo, Bompiani (Milan, Italy), 1961, reprinted, Armando Editore (Rome, Italy), 1989.

So It Goes, Pantheon Books (New York, NY), 1963.

Le trombe, romanzo, Bompiani (Milan, Italy), 1965, reprinted, A. Mondadori (Milan, Italy), 1987.

Un letto per dormire, Nuova Accademia (Milan, Italy), 1965.

Il valore commerciale. 232 pollici, Bompiani (Milan, Italy), 1967.

Andare a Liverpool; romanzo, Feltrinelli (Milan, Italy), 1968.

La Ronda, 1919-1923 (anthology of articles), ERI (Turin, Italy), 1969, reprinted, Liguori (Naples, Italy), 2001.

Offerta speciale: romanzo, Feltrinelli (Milan, Italy), 1970.

In casa e fuori, IPL (Milan, Italy), 1970.

Le caste pareti. Romanzo, Garzanti (Milan, Italy), 1973.

L'amor glaciale e alter storie (stories), Garzanti (Milan, Italy), 1975.

Radici di Publia, Adda editore (Bari, Italy), 1976.

Kulturmarket, Garzanti (Milan, Italy), 1977.

(With Salvatore Mignano) Estate in Magnagrecia, Garzanti (Milan, Italy), 1977.

Roma sottovoce, Garzanti (Milan, Italy), 1978.

Ingannare l'attesa (fiction), Garzanti (Milan, Italy), 1979.

L'uomo in cuffia (fiction), Bompiani (Milan, Italy), 1982.

(With Giovanni Battista Bronzini) Fiabe publiesi, A. Mondadori (Milan, Italy), 1983.

Letture di traverso: una caustica passeggiata nel mercato commune delle idie, Dedalo (Bari, Italy), 1985.

Diario di un convertito (novel), A Mondadori (Milan, Italy), 1986.

I festeggiamenti (fiction), Rizzoli (Milan, Italy), 1989.

Regime di brezza, Edizioni Dedalo (Bari, Italy), 1990.

La colombina: romanzo, Longanesi (Milan, Italy), 1991.

Esame di coscienza di un candidato (novel), Longanesi (Milan, Italy), 1993.

La campana di mezzanotte (novel), Longanesi (Milan, Italy), 1995.

I giubilanti (fiction), Marsilio (Venice, Italy), 1997.

Giocos umoristi e satirici, Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato (Rome, Italy), 1998.

Kluturmarekt 2, Palomar (Bari, Italy), 1999.

Ilmur di Gutenberg (fiction), Marsilio (Venice, Italy), 1999.

Paesaggio con figure: dallo sperone al taco, Schena (Fasano, Italy), 2000.

SIDELIGHTS:

Giuseppe Cassieri is a satirical Italian writer. In L'amor glaciale e alter storie, for example, the author presents his stories in the form of satiric television scripts. The title story tells of a depressed businessman whose wife signs him up for a therapy that involves the man being cryogenically frozen for several years. C. Fantazzi compared the overall work in theme to the novel A Clockwork Orange but noted "the scenes presented are much too familiar for comfort." In his novel Diario di un convertito, the author tells the story of an Italian student in Turkey who converts to Islam after falling in love. In La campana di mezzanotte, Cassieri's story revolves around the suicide of a woman participating in an educational seminar for young adults that focuses on chastity before marriage. While a detective tries to unravel the meaning of a cryptic note left behind by the woman, the author uses the seminar leader's reconstruction of events, including the seminar's daily lectures, to touch on a variety of other topics, from the Virgin Mary, to how to remain chaste, to how to donate sperm. Rosario Ferreri, writing in World Literature Today, recommended the book "for the curious who are able to appreciate the erudition and the irony the author displays."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 15, 1987, Sylvia S. Goldberg, review of Diario di un convertito, p. 1415; May 1, 1990, Sylvia S. Goldberg, review of I festeggiamenti, p. 1689.

Civilta Cattolica, Volume 117, 1966, "Narrative di Giuseppe Cassieri," pp. 286-289.

Ipotesi 80: Rivista Quadrimestrale di Cultura, Volume 27, 1989, pp. 101-112.

Realta del Mezzogirono: Mensile di Politica Economia Cultura, Volume 14, 1974, review of Le caste pareti, pp. 248-252

Siculorum Gymnaskum Catania, Volume 21, 1968, review of Andare a Liverpool; romanzo, pp. 93-107.

World Literature Today, winter, 1977, C. Fantazzi, review of L'amor glaciale e alter storie, p. 81; summer, 1990, Denise Valtz Ferreri, review of I festeggiamenti, p. 446; summer, 1996, Rosario Ferreri, review of La campana di mezzanotte, p. 676.