 Book cover for Kaputt (1946 English language edition) | |
| Author | Curzio Malaparte |
|---|---|
| Translator | Cesare Foligno |
| Language | Italian |
| Publisher | Editore Casella |
Publication date | 1944 |
| Publication place | Italy |
Published in English | 1946 |
| Pages | 645 |
Kaputt is a 1944 autobiographical novel by the Italian writer Curzio Malaparte.
The book was inspired by Malaparte's experiences as a war correspondent at the Eastern Front of World War II. It presents itself as Malaparte's personal witness account of intense violence and cruelty, but the content is largely fictional. [1]
The book was an international success. Already at the publication, several European critics received the book's narrator as a fictionalised author persona, and the book as an attempt from Malaparte to position himself after Italy's defeat and his own past as a fascist sympathiser. [1] When the English translation was published in 1946, Kirkus Reviews received it as a true account and called it "a subtly brilliant piece of writing" where Malaparte is "whipping the sensibilities to a sharp awareness of the degradation of Europe, of the utter collapse of morality, integrity, and so on". [2]
The book was translated into Lithuanian by Tomas Venclova. [3]
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