Edmundo De Amicis

Edmundo De Amicis (Oneglia, October 21 , 1846 – Bordighera, March 11 , 1908 ) was an Italian writer and soldier. He is one of the most popular writers in Italy and best known abroad, and his works have been translated into all European languages.

He gained fame with his sketchbook Military Life ( 1868 ). Of his narratives – novels and short stories – the most notable ones are Novela de un maestro (1890), Love and Gymnastics (1892), and Corazón (1886), his most famous work.

His work, of an instructive, pedagogical and popular nature, made him the most representative voice of a literary movement, characterized by a kind emotionality, which enjoyed great acceptance in his country at the end of the 19th century.

Summary

[ disguise ]

• 1 Biography
  • 1 Childhood and youth
  • 2 Another stage of your life
  • 3 Death
• 2 Works
• 3 Phrases
• 4 Sources

Biography

Childhood and youth

He was born in the town of Oneglia, located on the Ligurian coast , in northwestern Italy. ^[1]

De Amicis studied at a high school in Turin . A passionate patriot, he entered the military base of Modena, from which he became an officer, and as such he attended the battle of Custoza (1866). In 1872 he left his military career to dedicate himself to the practice of literature. He began his military career very young, and before turning twenty he reached the rank of infantry officer , he turned out to be a great patriot (he participated in the battle of Custoza, 1866).

Shortly afterward he became director of the magazine L’Italia Militare , where he began to publish some articles and sketches that, due to their good reception, were collected in the volume Military Life (1868). Encouraged by the public success of his next two books, Short Novels (1872) and Ricordi del 1870-1871 (1872), he decided to abandon the army and dedicate himself completely to journalism and literature .

Since 1891 he was active in socialism , becoming a spokesperson for the philanthropic attitude of the enlightened bourgeoisie at the end of the century.

Another stage of your life

From Amicis in his youth

As a correspondent for the Nazione newspaper he had the opportunity to visit numerous countries; Those experiences helped him write a series of books in which he collected his travel impressions.

Morocco (1876), Spain (1873), Holland (1874), are some of the numerous travel books that also achieved great success due to the ease demonstrated by the author in quickly describing the places and customs that appear before him. Then Poems (1881) and Literary Portraits (1881) appeared. This last title constitutes the first example in Italy of a book of interviews with personalities from the literary world.

Later, he wrote his very successful novel The Friends (Gli amici, 1883). Another important event in his life that had great weight on it was his joining the Socialist Party, in whose newspaper Il Grido del Popolo he published articles that he later gathered in Questione sociale ( Social Question , 1894); For him she gave many lectures.

In Novela de un maestro (1890), his gaze is bitter and disenchanted, something rare in his usual style. In L’idioma gentile (1905), an apology for the Italian language, he demonstrates the great love that he not only had for his homeland, but also for its traditions and culture.

Another work, perhaps the best known, is Corazón (Cuore), published in 1886. It is interesting to clarify that the work is constructed to provoke emotion and tears in the young reader. Translated into multiple languages ​​and made into films , television comic strips numerous times over the years since its original publication (among others, the Japanese cartoon series Marco, from the Apennines to the Andes ), inspired by interpolated narration in this book called From the Apennines to the Andes . Another interesting element is that the book is presented as the diary of a child, Enrique, through his school year as a third grade student in a municipal school in Turin .

Corazón achieved enormous success: in two and a half months it reached 41 editions. In 1896 the number of editions already reached 197, and in the 20th century it was translated into 40 languages.

Death

Edmondo De Amicis died on March 11 , 1908 , at the age of 61, in the village of Bordighera, 45 km west of Oneglia, his hometown.

Plays

• 1868: La vita militare (Military life)
• 1872: Novelle (Novels)
• 1872: Ricordi of 1870-1871 (Memories of 1870-1871)
• 1872: La Spagna (Spain, trip during the reign of Don Amadeo I of Savoy)
• 1873: Ricordi di Londra (Memories of London )
• 1878: Ricordi di Parigi (Memories of Paris )
• 1879: Constantinopoli (1878-1879) ( Constantinople , 1878-1879)
• 1880: The psychological effects of wine
• 1883: Gli amici (The Friends)
• 1886: Cuore(Heart)
• 1886: The little Florentine clerk

In his later years he wrote on morals , sociology , philosophy and history . In his published works he displays a somewhat systematic and old-fashioned sentimental psychology.

Phrases

• Friendships are like marriages: out of ten, one is made for love.
• A house without books is a house without dignity.
• He who respects the flag as a child will know how to defend it when he grows up.