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Nanni Balestrini (*1935, Milan, Italy) lives in Paris and Rome. He was one of the co-founders of Neoavanguardia, an influential, avant-garde literary movement in Italy in the 1950s and 60s. The linguistic experiments of the authors of this group form part of the literary tradition of T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound in both form and content. Balestrini was the editor of the journal “Il Verri” and co-director of “Alfabeta”. He worked for the Feltrinelli publishing house in Milan from 1962–1972. He was also a regular political activist: in 1968, he started Potere operaio, an organisation of non-parliamentary left-wingers and then supported the Autonomia movement in the 1970s. In 1979, Balestrini fled to France, then later to Germany, after being accused of being a member of a guerrilla group. His work regularly reflects the tension between left-wing optimism and governmental repression. He is a polarising class warrior and aesthetic innovator. Jürgen Schneider describes him as “a militant man of letters in the truest sense of the word”.
Publications (a selection):
Wir wollen alles, Verlag Assoziation A, Berlin 1971.
Die Unsichtbaren, Verlag Assoziation A, Berlin1987.
Die goldene Horde, with Primo Moroni, Verlag Assoziation A, Berlin 1988.
Der Verleger, Verlag Assoziation A, Berlin 1989.
I furiosi. Die Wütenden, ID-Verlag, Berlin1994.
Sandokan. Eine Erzählung der Camorra (Sandokan, storia di camorra), Verlag Assoziation A, Berlin 2004.Tristano, SuhrkampVerlag, Berlin 2009.
Nanni Balestrini at ZVAB