Curzio Malaparte

Curzio Malaparte (1898-1957) was a prominent Italian writer who directed one film, Strange Deception (which he also wrote and scored) that was recognized a decade later by US critic Parker Tyler in his book, Classics Of The Foreign Film.After serving in the Great War. Malaparte (who chose a last name that was a takeoff on Bonaparte) was active in the new Fascist movement but was later stripped of his membership for revealing too much information on how the party took power, and for comparing Hitler their ally to a woman.The author was exiled to several islands on house arrest.He also got in trouble with the Catholic Church for his book, The Skin, which was put on the index of prohibited works,though toward the end of his life he was more sympathetic to religion as well as to Communism.In 2012, US film editor Walter Murch translated some of his writing into English.His literature as well as his more limited film work is receiving a new appreciation for its connections to the Neo-Realism and Surrealism movements, though Malaparte remains an individual in a class all his own.