ABSTRACT
Writer and cultural critic Among the most versatile intellectuals and caustic critics of Italy’s cultural, political and social life-see such essay collections as Fantasmi italiani (Italian Ghosts) (1977) and Un paese senza (A Country Without) (1980)—Arbasino was also a founding and prominent member of the neoavantgarde Gruppo 6 3. He left his professorship at the University of Rome to devote himself to literature, journalism (regularly contributing to La Repubblica) and to politics (he sat in Parliament as a deputy for the Republican Party from 1983 to 1987). In his numerous novels-parodies and pastiches such as L’anonimo lombardo (The Anonymous Lombard) (1959), Specchio delle mie brame (Mirror of My Yearnings) (1974) and Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) (2nd revised edition, 1993)—Arbasino inventively plays with language to both record and sarcastically comment on the chaotic reality of contemporary Italy.
