Palazzeschi, Aldo

(real surname Giurlani). Born Feb. 2, 1885, in Florence; died Aug. 17, 1974, in Rome. Italian writer.

Palazzeschi began his literary career as a poet in 1905. His poetry is characterized by irony and skepticism. In search of new forms, he came close to futurism, but he disassociated himself from that movement in 1914. His prose bears the traits of romanticism and is imbued with irony, as in the novella-parable Perelà, The Man of Smoke (1911). His major work, the novel The Sisters Materassi (1934; Russian translation, 1968), is written in the tradition of critical realism and depicts the failure of bourgeois morality. He was the author of numerous short stories, many of which are included in the collection All the Novellas (1957). He also wrote memoirs entitled The Joy of Memory (1964), the fantastic novel The Doge (1967), and the satirical psychological novella The Story of One Friendship (1971).