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Andrea Camilleri | |
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 Camilleri in 2010 | |
| Born | Andrea Calogero Camilleri (1925-09-06)6 September 1925 Porto Empedocle, Sicily, Italy |
| Died | 17 July 2019(2019-07-17) (aged 93) Rome, Italy |
| Resting place | Protestant Cemetery, Rome |
| Occupation |
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| Alma mater | Accademia Nazionale di Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico |
| Years active | 1950–2019 |
| Notable works | Inspector Montalbano novels Inspector Montalbano TV series |
| Notable awards | Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (2003) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
| Signature | |
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Andrea Calogero Camilleri (Italian pronunciation:[anˈdrɛːakamilˈlɛːri]; 6 September 1925 – 17 July 2019)[1] was an Italian writer best known for hisSalvo Montalbano crime novels.[2]
Originally fromPorto Empedocle,Girgenti,[3] Sicily, Camilleri began university studies in the Faculty of Literature at theUniversity of Palermo, but did not complete his degree;[4] during that time he published poems and short stories.
From 1948 to 1950, he studied stage and film direction at the Silvio D'Amico Academy of Dramatic Arts (Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Drammatica) and began to take on work as a director and screenwriter, directing especially plays byPirandello andBeckett. His parents knew and reportedly were "distant friends" of Pirandello, as he relates in his essay on Pirandello,Biography of the Changed Son. His most famous works, the Montalbano series, exhibit many Pirandellian elements[citation needed]: for example, the wild olive tree that helps Montalbano think is on stage in his late workThe Giants of the Mountain.
WithRAI, Camilleri worked on several TV productions, such asLe inchieste del commissario Maigret[5] withGino Cervi. In 1977, he returned to the Academy of Dramatic Arts, holding the chair of Film Direction and occupying it for 20 years.
Camilleri wrote his first novel,Il Corso Delle Cose ("The Way Things Go"), in 1978. This was followed byUn Filo di Fumo ("A Thread of Smoke") in 1980. Neither of these works enjoyed any significant popularity.
In 1992, after a long pause of 12 years, Camilleri once more took up novel writing. A new book,La Stagione della Caccia ("The Hunting Season") became a best-seller.
In 1994, Camilleri publishedLa forma dell'Acqua (The Shape of Water), the first in a long series of novels featuringInspector Salvo Montalbano, a fractious detective in the police force of Vigàta, an imaginary Sicilian town. The series is written in Italian but with a substantial sprinkling ofSicilian phrases and grammar. The name Montalbano is a homage to the Spanish writerManuel Vázquez Montalbán;[6] the similarities between Montalban'sPepe Carvalho and Camilleri's fictional detective are noteworthy. Both writers make use of their protagonists' gastronomic preferences.
This interesting quirk has become something of a fad among his readership, even in mainland Italy. TheTV adaptation of Montalbano's adventures, starringLuca Zingaretti, further increased Camilleri's popularity to such a point that in 2003 Camilleri's home town, Porto Empedocle – on which Vigàta is modelled – took the extraordinary step of changing its official name to that of Porto Empedocle Vigàta, no doubt with an eye to capitalising on the tourism possibilities thrown up by the author's work. On his website, Camilleri refers to the engaging and multi-faceted character of Montalbano as a "serial killer of characters," meaning that he has developed a life of his own and demands great attention from his author to the detriment of other potential books and characters. Camilleri added that he wrote a Montalbano novel every so often just so that the character would be appeased and allow him to work on other stories.
In 2012, Camilleri'sThe Potter's Field (translated byStephen Sartarelli) was announced as the winner of the 2012Crime Writers' AssociationInternational Dagger. The announcement was made on 5 July 2012 at the awards ceremony held at One Birdcage Walk in London.[7]
In his last years, Camilleri lived in Rome where he worked as a TV and theatre director. About 10 million copies of his novels have been sold to date and are becoming increasingly popular in the UK (whereBBC Four broadcast the Montalbano TV series from mid-2011), Australia and North America.
In addition to the degree of popularity brought him by the novels, Andrea Camilleri became even more of a media icon thanks to the parodies aired on an RAI radio show, where popular comedian, TV host and impressionistFiorello presents him as a raspy-voiced, caustic character, madly in love with cigarettes and smoking, since in Italy, Camilleri was well known for being aheavy smoker of cigarettes. He considered himself a "non-militant atheist".[8]
On 17 June 2019, Camilleri suffered aheart attack. He was admitted to hospital in a critical condition.[9] He died on 17 July 2019.[1][10]
He received honorary degrees from several Italian universities, including theIULM University of Milan (2002), theUniversity of Pisa (2005), theUniversity of L'Aquila (2007), and theD'Annunzio University of Chieti—Pescara (2007). In 2012, he received an honorary PhD from theSapienza University of Rome.
Camilleri also received honorary degrees fromUniversity College Dublin on 5 December 2011[14] and theAmerican University of Rome on 30 October 2013.[15]
(excluding short stories)
| Italian title | Year of Italian publication | Italian publisher | Year of English publication | English title | English publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| La forma dell'acqua | 1994 | Sellerio | 2002 | The Shape of Water | Picador |
| Il cane di Terracotta | 1996 | 2002 | The Terracotta Dog | ||
| Il ladro di merendine | 1996 | 2003 | The Snack Thief | ||
| La voce del violino | 1997 | 2003 | The Voice of the Violin | ||
| Gita a Tindari | 2000 | 2005 | Excursion to Tindari | ||
| L'odore della notte | 2001 | 2005 | The Scent of the Night | ||
| Il giro di boa | 2003 | 2006 | Rounding the Mark | ||
| La pazienza del ragno | 2004 | 2007 | The Patience of the Spider | ||
| La luna di carta | 2005 | 2008 | The Paper Moon | ||
| La vampa d'agosto | 2006 | 2009 | August Heat | ||
| Le ali della sfinge | 2006 | 2009 | The Wings of the Sphinx | Penguin Books | |
| La pista di sabbia | 2007 | 2010 | The Track of Sand | ||
| Il campo del vasaio | 2008 | 2011 | The Potter's Field | ||
| L'età del dubbio | 2008 | 2012 | The Age of Doubt | ||
| La danza del gabbiano | 2009 | 2013 | The Dance of the Seagull | ||
| La caccia al tesoro | 2010 | 2013 | Treasure Hunt | ||
| Il sorriso di Angelica | 2010 | 2014 | Angelica's Smile | ||
| Il gioco degli specchi | 2011 | 2015 | Game of Mirrors | ||
| Una lama di luce | 2012 | 2015 | A Beam of Light | ||
| Una voce di notte | 2012 | 2016 | A Voice in the Night | ||
| Un covo di vipere | 2013 | 2017 | A Nest of Vipers | ||
| La piramide di fango | 2014 | 2018 | The Pyramid of Mud | ||
| La giostra degli scambi | 2015 | 2019 | The Overnight Kidnapper | ||
| L'altro capo del filo | 2016 | 2019 | The Other End of the Line | ||
| La rete di protezione | 2017 | 2020 | The Safety Net | ||
| Il metodo Catalanotti | 2018 | 2020 | The Sicilian Method | ||
| Il cuoco dell'Alcyon | 2019 | 2021 | The Cook of the Halcyon | ||
| Riccardino | 2020[16][17] | 2022 | Riccardino [it] | Mantle |
(including Montalbano short stories)
Camilleri's final book in the series, entitled Riccardino and written in 2006, remains with his publisher, locked in a cabinet in Palermo under agreement that it be printed at a later date.
Riccardino was first penned in 2005 and then tweaked in 2016, after which Camilleri gave it to his publisher on the promise that it would not be released until after his death.
Recipients of theRBA Prize for Crime Writing | |
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