A short life of the author
Natalia Ginzburg (1916–1991) was born Natalia Levi on 14 July 1916 in Palermo, into a Turinese Jewish family. Her first husband, Leone Ginzburg, was an anti-fascist activist who died in a German prison in Rome in 1944.
Life and Career
La strada che va in città (The Road to the City, 1942) — published under a pseudonym during the war — was her debut. After the war, she worked as an editor at Einaudi, one of Italy’s most important publishers, alongside Italo Calvino and Cesare Pavese.
Lessico famigliare (Family Sayings, 1963) — a memoir-novel about her family told through their characteristic phrases and expressions — won the Strega Prize. It is a work of radical economy: history, politics, and the rise of fascism are present but seen through the lens of domestic life and family language.
Le piccole virtù (The Little Virtues, 1962) — a collection of essays including “The Little Virtues,” about how to raise children, and “He and I,” about her marriage — is her finest nonfiction.
Major Works and Themes
Ginzburg wrote about family, marriage, loneliness, and the moral life in a voice that is unmistakably hers — plain, precise, and devastating in its restraint.
Key Works
- Family Sayings (1963)
- The Little Virtues (1962)
Collecting Ginzburg
Italian originals (Einaudi) are the primary collected form. English translations (NYRB Classics, Arcade) bring $10–$25. Ginzburg died in 1991.