Pasolini: A biography

by Enzo Siciliano

This biography has been written with the loving assistance of the Pasolini heirs, in particular Susanna Pasolini Colussi, Graziella Chiarcossi, and Nico Naldini, who permitted the author to examine the files of published Pasolini writings and the whole vast body of bibliographical material in their possession. To the Pasolini heirs go his thanks.

Genres: Nonfiction, Film, Biography, Italian Literature

440 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Enzo Siciliano was an Italian writer, playwright, literary critic and intellectual.
He was collaborator of Alberto Moravia, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Elsa Morante and many other famous writers in the 1950s and 1960s.
From 1996 to 1998 he was President of RAI (Italian State Television). He died in 2006, aged 72, from complications of diabetes.

Reviews

[Pavel · Rating 1 out of 5]

As much as I adore all works by Pier Paolo Pasolini: films, poems, novels and as much as I'm interested in his persona, his biography and his mysterious death, I've put this book aside after 50-60 pages and not going to come back to it. I'm not stupid, I understand importance of sex for Pasolini's works. But at the same time I am so, so not interested in mr. Siciliano projections on where Pier Paolo could possibly mastrubate as a boy or how he could see his father's penis, etc. Those 60 pages that I've read are filled with this pseudo-freudian crap, I guess someone could be entertained by that, not me.

[armin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Potrebbe interessare a chi non conosce Pasolini, per chi lo conosce è solo pieno delle cose inutili che in realtà non contribuiscono ne al conoscere dell’autore e ne al capire le sue opere. Proprio sconsigliato!

[Cristóbal Astorga · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Este es un comentario para la edición castellana (Plaza & Janés, 1981).] Enzo Siciliano es una autoridad en Pasolini. Amigo personal y testigo de su tiempo, publicó esta biografía en italiano que hoy se encuentra descatalogada, y es, al parecer, la única disponible en castellano del artista italiano. El libro es un retrato bastante íntimo, a ratos literario, de la vida de Pasolini. Siciliano no se preocupa demasiado por mostrar al lector el contexto y presupone una cantidad de conocimiento acerca de la vida cultural italiana de la posguerra que puede resultar a veces desanimante para el lector menos informado. Como cuadro general, es bastante decepcionante. El libro funciona mejor al dar acceso directo a una fuente cercana al autor, así como al presentarlo con su propia voz; Siciliano cita profusamente cartas, poemas y ensayos de Pasolini (lo que es probable, tampoco guste a muchos lectores que no acuden al libro en busca de una antología). Es, en pocas palabras, un texto híbrido, bastante frustrante. El problema central con esta edición es la traducción y revisión simplemente desastrosas. Resulta en muchos pasajes, incomprensible, y en otros, debido a la enorme cantidad de typos, hace dudar al lector si lo que está leyendo representa genuinamente el sentido que Siciliano quería darle. Por ejemplo, la traducción se refiere a "las películas dirigidas por Visconti" junto a Maria Callas, y enumera luego tres famosas producciones de ópera (en el italiano original se habla de "le regie de Visconti", es decir "las puestas de Visconti"). El volumen contiene un catálogo incompleto y anárquico de las obras de Pasolini, y un índice onomástico. Sería deseable contar con una reedición corregida o con una traducción de la biografía de Barth David Schwartz Pasolini Requiem.

[R.J. Gilmour · Rating 2 out of 5]

Siciliano's biography of Pasolini which was written in Italian and translated into English is one of those books that you really want to like, but are just unable to get past the poor writing, which could be a byproduct of either the translation or a particular style of Italian writing that is unfamiliar to North American readers. At the same time, while Siciliano offers a wealth of information about Pasolini's life he spends an inordinate amount of time on his poetry and little time on his work as a filmmaker. Given that Pasolini was such a visual person it is sad that one of the few biographies about him, provides analysis of his poetic works and not his visual works. In the end, while I forced myself to finish the book it was not a pleasant read.

[Chet]

So it's not just in this day and age that audiences expect celebrities of whom they are "fans" to adhere consistently, perfectly, to their own precious worldviews (if you can't tell, I'm annoyed at Kanye discourse). Siciliano's biography is at its best when tracking the twists and turns of Pasolini's politics as he's bathed deeper and deeper in the (inter)national spotlight: Gramscian Marxist, Catholic Anarchist, anti-New Left "get off my lawn" type (the essay on long hair was funny), and of course the final diatribe that was Saló. My one complaint is I wish the discussion on Salo had been longer.

[Manuel]

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