The Letters of Pier Paolo Pasolini. Volume I, 1940-1954

Published for the first time in English, The Letters of Pier Paulo Pasolini, Volume I 1949-1945 provide an invaluable insight into the literary and psychological development of a major writer who was also an innovative and influential film-maker. The introduction with its long extracts from the Quaderni Rossi - Pasolini's early diaries - furnishes a context for the letters, which also contain some of his first poems. The resonant, lyrical quality of his later novels is already present in the descriptions of his native Casarsa and the landscape of the Tagliamento. The account of his personal relationships is deeply moving - particularly that with Silvana Mauri who was in love with him - as are the letters dealing with his brother's death. A highly controversial figure, Pasolini flouted the conventions of Italian society in his life and work. In his letters, he gives fascinating insights into Italian literary life and an ironic commentary on the stultifying sexual and political morality of the time.