Synopses & Reviews
An extraordinary coming-of-age memoir by the Nobel-Prize-winning playwright My First Seven Years is Dario Fo's fantastic, enchanting memoir of his youth spent in Northern Italy on the shores of Lago Maggiore. As a child, Fo grew up in a picturesque village teeming with glass-blowers, smugglers and storytellers. Of his teenage years, Fo recounts the struggles of the Fascists and Partisans, the years of World War II, and his own tragicomic experience trying to desert the Fascist army. In a series of colorful vignettes, Fo draws us into a remarkable early life filled with characters and anecdotes that would become the inspiration for his own creative genius.
Review
"Expertly translated by Joseph Farrell,
My First Seven Years vividly chronicles the Nazi-Fascist scourge. ... A fascinating account of a writer's formative years, by turns tender and sardonic."--Ian Thomson, author of
Primo Levi: A Life "Replete with humorous anecdotes and zany events, this book is an entertaining, life-affirming and informative read. ... Fo paints a picture of a bucolic childhood, of wild adventures and japes, but interweaves this innocence with the often brutal political and social realities of the time, which impinge, even if indistinctly, on his child's mind." --
Morning Star (UK)
"Masterful scenes of black comedy"-- Guardian (UK)
"A mezmerizing portrayal of early childhood, told with great panache and well-timed comedy."--Good Book Guide (UK)
"Dario Fo's crafty and uproarious memoir...both hilarious and deadly serious."--The Socialist Review
About the Author
DARIO FO was born in 1926 in northern Italy. He began working in theater as a comic and actor. Together with his wife, Franca Rame, he has been highly successful as an actor, director, and writer of satirical comedies for the theatre. His work has been politically important in Italy and won him international acclaim. In 1997 Dario Fo was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. JOSEPH FARRELL is an award-winning translator of Italian novels and plays and is the author of Dario Fo and Franca Rame: Harlequins of the Revolution. He lives in Scotland.