(18 October, 2016) “Natalia Ginzburg: Life and Work One Hundred Years after her Birth” is the title of the study day organised by the Van Leer Institute of Jerusalem (9:30-18:00) with the objective of celebrating the importance of the literary and ethical contribution of the writer- born 100 years ago- towards existentialist, social, feminist, and Jewish thought. The Italian Ambassador to Israel, Francesco Maria Talò, descendants of Natalia Ginzburg among which are her son, Professor Carlo Ginzburg who will speak on behalf of the family who is a distinguished advocate of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in various fields and distinguished Israeli artists. A simultaneous interpretation from Italian to Hebrew and vice versa will take place throughout the day. The study is promoted by the Van Leer Institute of Jerusalem in collaboration with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Italian Embassy to Israel, the Italian Cultural Institute of Tel Aviv, Hakibbutz Hameuchad and Yad Vashem. (Red).

NATALIA GINZBURG

Italian writer (Palermo 1916- Rome 1991) first married L. Ginzburg and then G. Baldini. Ginzburg career blossomed among antifascist intellectuals in Turin and then debuted in 1942 with a story titled “The Road to the City” under the pseudonym ‘Alessandra Tornimparte’ due to racial issues. She then published other stories such as “È stato cosi” (It was like that); “Valentino” followed by “Saggitarius” (1957); “Le voci della sera” (The voices of the night) (1961) collected in “Cinque romanzi brevi” (five short novels) (1946); “Family” (1977), a few novels “Tutti i nostri ieri” (All of our yesterdays) (1952); “Caro Michele” (Dear Michael) (1973); “La città e la casa” (The City and the House) (1984). She published two volumes in between her essay and her autobiographical story (“Le piccolo virtù” – The Small Virtues, 1962; “Lessico famigliare”-familial lexicon, 1963) and another in between an essay and her novel “La famiglia Manzoni” (The Manzoni Family) (1983). Her narrative, which echoes that of Cesare Pavese, aims to convey a day-to-day reality with an objective distance, almost in a documentary style, caught in its flow. It explores the psyche of her own ethical and social observational field which focuses on one or more ‘sacrificed’ female figures that have however accepted their fate with animosity.

(Fonte: Treccani)