La vita agra

La vita agra: or, It’s a Hard Life
	First edition
Author	Luciano Bianciardi
Original title	La vita agra
Translator	Eric Mosbacher
Country	Italy
Language	Italian
Publisher	Rizzoli, Bompiani
Publication date	1962
Pages	200 pp.

Last updated April 16, 2019

La vita agra, known in English-speaking countries as It's a Hard Life, is a novel by Luciano Bianciardi published in 1962 by Rizzoli. It became a best-seller in Italy and it is considered one of the most important novels in contemporary Italian literature.

Luciano Bianciardi was an Italian journalist, translator and writer of short stories and novels.

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1962.

RCS MediaGroup S.p.A., based in Milan and listed on the Italian Stock Exchange, is an international multimedia publishing group that operates in daily newspapers, magazines and books, radio broadcasting, new media and digital and satellite TV. It is also one of the leading operators in the advertisement sales & distribution markets.

In 1962, when the novel was released it was praised by the public and the critics. It became a best-seller and was translated into English, French, German and Spanish. Italo Calvino wrote a review in which he regarded the novel positively and compared it to other works of the so-called letteratura industriale (Industrial literature), a current which spread at the beginning of the Italian economic miracle, such as Paolo Volponi's Memoriale and Giovanni Arpino's Una nuvola d'ira. He praised the all-encompassing language that succeeds masterfully in expressing and representing the industrial reality in a more complex way, even if he saw some weaknesses connected to the book's uncontainable autobiography that is limited, in his opinion, to a "private anarchist protest".^[1]

Italo Calvino Italian journalist and writer of short stories and novels

Italo Calvino was an Italian journalist and writer of short stories and novels. His best known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy (1952–1959), the Cosmicomics collection of short stories (1965), and the novels Invisible Cities (1972) and If on a winter's night a traveler (1979).

The Italian economic miracle or the Italian economic boom is the term used by historians, economists and the mass media to designate the prolonged period of strong economic growth in Italy after the Second World War from the 1950s to the late 1960s, and in particular the years from 1950 to 1963. This phase of Italian history represented not only a cornerstone in the economic and social development of the country—which was transformed from a poor, mainly rural, nation into a global industrial power—but also a period of momentous change in Italian society and culture. As summed up by one historian, by the end of the 1970s, "social security coverage had been made comprehensive and relatively generous. The material standard of living had vastly improved for the great majority of the population."

Paolo Volponi Italian writer (1924–1994)

Paolo Volponi was an Italian writer, poet and politician.

The novel was also made into a 1964 film of the same name, directed by Carlo Lizzani and starring Ugo Tognazzi and Giovanna Ralli.

La vita agra is a 1964 Italian film by director Carlo Lizzani, based on Luciano Bianciardi's novel of the same name.

Carlo Lizzani was an Italian film director, screenwriter and critic.

Ugo Tognazzi was an Italian film, TV, and theatre actor, director, and screenwriter.

English editions

La vita agra: or, It’s a Hard Life, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1965; translation by Eric Mosbacher.
La vita agra. It's a Hard Life, Viking Press, New York, 1965; translation by Eric Mosbacher.

Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette.

Viking Press is an American publishing company now owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquired by the Penguin Group in 1975.

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References

↑ Gino Ruozzi, Vite difficili nella letteratura del boom economico. Dalla dolce vita alla vita agra, in Carlo Varotti, La parola e il racconto. Scritti su Luciano Bianciardi, Bologna, Bononia University Press, 2005, pp. 29-36.

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[1] Gino Ruozzi, Vite difficili nella letteratura del boom economico. Dalla dolce vita alla vita agra, in Carlo Varotti, La parola e il racconto. Scritti su Luciano Bianciardi, Bologna, Bononia University Press, 2005, pp. 29-36.