John Fante, the literary odyssey of an American wop

Le Regard Libre N° 58 - Ivan Garcia

Among the great family of American writers, John Fante wields a funny, scathing pen that has never met with the success he was hoping for. At once a Hollywood screenwriter, a penniless writer, an arrogant wop and a baseball and golf fan, Fante's writings reveal the life of a magnificent loser, his own life, through his alter ego, Arturo Bandini. An immersion in the work of a man with a strong character, but an eternal fighter on the road to writing.

The story of John Fante begins in 1909, in Denver, Colorado. The son of an Italian father, a bricklayer from Abruzzo, and a devout Italian-American mother, young John attended his first Catholic school run by Jesuits. This experience gave rise to a precocious need for emancipation and a strong sense of identity.