ITALO SVEVO – SECRET WRITING IN TRIESTE
Italo Svevo remained overlooked for much of his life, achieving success only with his third novel, Zeno’s Conscience. We explore his works’ modernism, the complexity of his characters and the evocative spirit of his hometown, Trieste.
Born Ettore Schmitz in Trieste in 1861, Italo Svevo was overlooked as a writer by both literary circles and the public for much of his life. Recognition came only with his third novel, Zeno’s Conscience (1923), which portrayed a neurotic liar and unreliable narrator undergoing psychoanalysis, also mirroring Svevo’s own world. The novel’s striking modernism captivated his friend James Joyce, who helped introduce Svevo to the literary salons of 1920s Paris. Blending psychoanalysis and the banalities of everyday life with the stream-of-consciousness style was an approach readers of Svevo’s time were not yet ready for. Today, however, he is an established name in world literature alongside James Joyce, Franz Kafka and Marcel Proust. In his work, the Italian author anticipated many of the literary innovations that were yet to come. This documentary paints a portrait of this complex writer and his characters, set against the backdrop of Svevo’s fascinating birthplace, Trieste.