An incisive portrait of the Italian cinematic and literary genius traces the career of Pier Paolo Pasolini from his childhood, through his development as an artist, to his 1975 murder--allegedly at the hands of a young male prostitute.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Grand in scope and rich in detail, this ambitious biography reconstructs the turbulent life and times of Pier Paolo Pasolini, the Italian novelist (A Violent Life), poet and filmmaker who continually jousted with society's conventions. Mining Italian sources and incorporating Pasolini's own writings, Scientific American contributor Schwartz sets the stage with an absorbing account of Pasolini's 1975 murder at the hands of a male hustler, a type of character he had long celebrated in his work. Though some may find it daunting, Schwartz's prodigious research lucidly shows how Pasolini's primordial ... preconscious link between politics and sexuality manifested itself as he avoided Fascism, sought an individualistic communism and used the nourishment of scorn to push himself to intellectual clarity. Pasolini wrote stories of the poor as he focused on postwar Rome, but in the 1960s he saw the burgeoning Italian cinema as the most powerful medium in which to represent reality. The subject of 33 legal actions against his writing and films, Pasolini became most famous for being scandalous, but Schwartz shows how explicit films such as Decameron (a surprise 1971 hit in the U.S.) grew out of the auteur's moral and political obsessions.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
This much-needed biography of one of modern Italy's towering intellectual figures combines vital data, refresher glimpses at recent Italian history, and analysis of public reaction to his many gadfly polemics. During the 30 years of his productive life, this "reactionary of the Left" was in the spotlight; whether as poet, critic, filmmaker, or novelist, his message was not to console. Thus, in his film Salo , members of the haute monde dine on their own excrement; Pasolini is telling us in his inimitable way that consumer society will end up consuming the fruit of its own uselessness. An unwavering homosexual taken to court 33 times yet never found guilty, Pasolini had typically complex views on homosexuality. Probably because he needed alienation to be creative, he had no interest in organizations to promote individual liberation. Schwartz starts the book with the gripping details of Pasolini's murder and at the finale returns to chronicle the tragic recidivism of the 17-year-old murderer. Recommended for all literary collections.
- Jack Shreve, Allegany Community Coll., Cumberland, Md.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Jack Shreve, Allegany Community Coll., Cumberland, Md.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, thorough, and unbiased,
By
This review is from: Pasolini Requiem (Paperback)
"Pasolini Requiem" is by far the most complete biography of the fascinating filmmaker, poet, painter, and political commentator. Schwartz presents as clear a picture as possible of an ambiguous, ambitious, controversial (and to some ways of thinking pretentious and immoral) artist balancing a compulsion to create wholly original products with a desire to revive and continue ancient, nearly dead traditions.
One of the more impressive aspects of this massive bio is that it manages to explain Pasolini's well-documented quirks, deviancy, and combativeness without moralizing or defending the subject. PPP's life makes for absorbing reading, though the author's dedication to presenting seemingly every available fact sometimes bogs down the flow of the narrative. With that one relatively minor caveat, I can easily recommend the book for those interested in artist bios that go beyond superficial criticism, the birth of independent cinema in Europe, the conflict between art and censorship, or Italian life during the World War II era.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the greatest biographies I've ever read....,
This review is from: Pasolini Requiem (Paperback)
This is a magnificent book, as magnificent as its subject, Pasolini. It's an absolutely fascinating, mesmerizing, incredibly researched and meticulous biography of one of the greatest artists the 20th century ever produced.
Many (especially in this country) know Pasolini for his notorious, shocking, deeply disturbing film Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom. The reality is that he was a true Renaissance man, writing novels, plays, poems (he was a well known poet before he became a filmmaker), essays, and of course, his filmmaking. He was an astoundingly brilliant man, but a deeply disturbed man as well. This book manages to encompass the whole story of Pier Paolo Pasolini, not just his filmmaking. It also goes into Pasolini's notorious personal life, and his senseless, brutal murder. As another reviewer said, the book never judges Pasolini, preferring the verdict to be left to the reader. The book is filled with amazing quotes from Pasolini himself, ones that speak volumes about life, love, the world, politics, everything. He was a truly remarkable man, and Barth David Schwartz has written a remarkable, brilliant novel, worthy of Pasolini.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Intellectual Icon,
By Stefanie Casey (The Cultural Sojourner) "Stef" (Southern California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pasolini Requiem (Paperback)
With rigorous scholarship, this biography captures the complexity of Pasolini and his time. Politics and culture are intertwined, as with no other country except Russia. Pasolini saw himself as a writer and teacher. Italy was his classroom. From scholar, poet, philologist, professor, writer, editor, critic, intellectual, polemicist, and, finally, filmmaker, Pasolini was doggedly communicating to the Italian populace.
His early films are reflections of reality ~ the life of the subproletarian, a symbol of fascism and its failed recovery. With the advent of capitalism, consumerism, and bourgeois middle-class, the marginalized no longer retain their innocence. The people and culture were becoming more homogenized. Pasolini is rendered aphasic, as the culture no longer listens or understands. His films are increasingly metaphoric, symbolic, and allegorical in attempts to communicate. With his final film, there is no hope for humanity. Provocation never led to understanding, nor would it be possible until the messenger was dead. The mythos is created. Discussions of anti-Fascism, Marxism, and Freud are simplifications of his work and art (as is the above commentary). Pasolini's epoch demands further scrutiny. Only in this Italy, with its reigning triumvirate of ecclesiastic, monarchist, and dictatorial rule, could a Pasolini and this symbiotic relationship with culture exist.
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