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Calvino, Italo

(Encyclopedia)Calvino, Italo tl clv´n [key], 1923–85, Italian novelist. Calvino was one of the most popular novelists of the 20th cent. Although loneliness is an essential condition in his writings, ...

Svevo, Italo

(Encyclopedia)Svevo, Italo ´täl zv´v [key], 1861–1928, Italian novelist, whose real name was Ettore Schmitz, b. Trieste. A businessman, he wrote several works of fiction, but remained practically unkno...

Balbo, Italo

(Encyclopedia)Balbo, Italo ´täl bäl´b [key], 1896–1940, Italian Fascist leader and aviator. After serving in World War I, he joined the Fascist movement and in 1922 was one of the four top leaders of th...

magic realism

(Encyclopedia)magic realism, primarily Latin American literary movement that arose in the 1960s. The term has been attributed to the Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier, who first applied it to Latin-American fiction in ...

Axis

(Encyclopedia)Axis, coalition of countries headed by Germany, Italy, and Japan, 1936–45 (see World War II). The expression Rome-Berlin axis originated in Oct., 1936, with an accord reached by Hitler and Mussolini...

Dodecanese

(Encyclopedia)Dodecanese ddkns´, –nz, ddk– [key], Gr. Dhodhekánisos, island group (1991 pop. 163,476), c.1,035 sq mi (2,680 sq km), SE Greece, in the Aegean Sea, between Asia Minor and Crete...

Graziani, Rodolfo

(Encyclopedia)Graziani, Rodolfo rdôl´f grätsä´n [key], 1882–1955, Italian soldier and colonial administrator. After serving in World War I and in Libya (1921–33), he was made (1935) governor of Ita...

Nenni, Pietro

(Encyclopedia)Nenni, Pietro py´tr nn´n [key], 1891–1980, Italian journalist and political leader. He was imprisoned in 1911 for his participation in the protest movement against the Italo-Turkish war in...

Italian literature

(Encyclopedia)Italian literature, writings in the Italian language, as distinct from earlier works in Latin and French. The Thirteenth Century The first Italian vernacular literature began to take shape in the 13th...

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