John Fante


John Fante was an American novelist, short story writer and screenwriter. He is best known for his semi-autobiographical novel Ask the Dust about the life of a struggling writer, Arturo Bandini, in Depression-era Los Angeles. It is widely considered the great Los Angeles novel and is one in a series of four, published between 1938 and 1985, that are now collectively called "The Bandini Quartet". Ask the Dust was adapted into a film made in 2006, starring Colin Farrell. In his lifetime, Fante published five novels, one novella, and a short story collection. Additional works, including two novels, two novellas, and two short story collections, were published posthumously. His screenwriting credits include, most notably, Full of Life, based on his 1952 novel by that name, Jeanne Eagels, and the 1962 films Walk on the Wild Side and The Reluctant Saint.

Early life

Fante was born in Denver, Colorado, on April 8, 1909, to Nicola Fante from Torricella Peligna, and Mary Capolungo of Lucanian descent. He attended various Catholic schools in Boulder, Colorado, before briefly enrolling at the University of Colorado. He dropped out of college in 1929 and moved to Southern California to focus on his writing.
Fante and Joyce Smart met on January 30, 1937, and were married on July 31 of that same year in Reno, Nevada.

Career

After many unsuccessful attempts at publishing stories in the highly regarded literary magazine The American Mercury, his short story "Altar Boy" was accepted conditionally by the magazine's editor, H. L. Mencken. With Mencken's help, Fante published his first novel, Wait Until Spring, Bandini in 1938. The following year, his best known novel, the semi-autobiographical Ask the Dust, appeared. Bandini served as his alter ego in a total of four novels, often known as "The Bandini Quartet": Wait Until Spring, Bandini, The Road to Los Angeles, Ask the Dust and finally Dreams from Bunker Hill, which was dictated to his wife, Joyce, towards the end of his life. His short story collection, Dago Red, was originally published in 1940, and then republished with a few additional stories in 1985 under the title The Wine of Youth.
Starting in the 1950s, Fante made a living primarily as a screenwriter, building a lucrative career writing mostly unproduced screenplays. Fante's screenwriting credits include the comedy-drama Full of Life, based on his 1952 novel of the same name, which starred Judy Holliday and Richard Conte, and was nominated for Best Written American Comedy at the 1957 WGA Awards. He also co-wrote Walk on the Wild Side, which stars Jane Fonda in her second credited film role, based on the novel by Nelson Algren. His other screenplay credits include Dinky, Jeanne Eagels, My Man and I, The Reluctant Saint, Something for a Lonely Man and Six Loves. As Fante himself often admitted, most of what he wrote for the screen was simply hackwork intended to bring in a paycheck.
In the late 1970s, at the suggestion of novelist and poet Charles Bukowski, who had accidentally discovered Fante's work in the Los Angeles Public Library, Black Sparrow Press began to republish the works of Fante, creating a resurgence in his popularity.

Later life and death

Fante was diagnosed with diabetes in 1955, which ultimately cost him his eyesight and led to the 1977 amputation of his toes and feet, and later legs. He died on May 8, 1983.
Fante and Joyce raised four children in Malibu, California, including Dan Fante, an author and playwright who died in 2015.

Legacy and recognition

He is known to be one of the first writers to portray the tough times faced by many writers in Los Angeles, often referred to as "the quintessential L.A. novelist." He has also been cited as a precursor to Beat writers. Robert Towne has called Ask the Dust the greatest novel ever written about Los Angeles. Michael Tolkin said the novel should be "mandatory reading" in the Los Angeles school system. More than 60 years after it was published, Ask the Dust appeared for several weeks on the New York Times' Best Sellers List.
Fante's work and style have influenced similar authors such as Charles Bukowski, who stated in his introduction to Ask the Dust that "Fante was my god". Bukowski dedicated poems to Fante, and in the early part of his career was said to go around shouting, "I am Arturo Bandini!" in reference to Fante's alter ego. In his 1978 novel Women, Bukowski's alter ego Henry Chinaski is asked to name his favorite author and he replies, "Fante."
Fante wrote about writing and the people and places where he lived and worked, which included Wilmington, Long Beach, Manhattan Beach, the Bunker Hill district of downtown Los Angeles, as well as various homes in Hollywood, Echo Park and Malibu. Recurring themes in Fante's work are poverty, Catholicism, family life, Italian-American identity, sports and the writing life. Fante's clear voice, vivid characters, shoot-from-the-hip style, and painful, emotional honesty blended with humor and scrupulous self-criticism lends his books to wide appreciation. Most of his novels and stories take place either in Colorado or California. Many of his novels and short stories also feature or focus on fictional incarnations of Fante's father, Nick Fante, as a cantankerous wine tippling, cigar stub-smoking bricklayer.
In 1987, Fante was posthumously awarded the PEN USA President's Award.
On October 13, 2009, Los Angeles City Council member Jan Perry put forward a motion, seconded by Jose Huizar, that the intersection of Fifth Street and Grand Avenue be designated John Fante Square. The site is outside the Los Angeles Central Library frequented by the young Fante, and where Charles Bukowski discovered Ask The Dust. On April 8, 2010, the author's 101st birthday, the Fante Square sign was unveiled in a noon ceremony attended by Fante's family, fans and city officials. Fante Square is located near the old Bunker Hill neighborhood he wrote about, and where he also lived.

Film and theater adaptations

bought the rights to The Brotherhood of the Grape, but a film was not produced. Dominique Deruddere directed the movie version of Wait Until Spring, Bandini, which was released in 1989. In March 2006, Paramount Pictures released Ask the Dust, directed by Robert Towne and starring Colin Farrell, Salma Hayek and Donald Sutherland. In December 2006, a 2001 documentary film about Fante, entitled A Sad Flower in the Sand, aired on the PBS series Independent Lens. Yvan Attal directed and starred in the French film My Dog Stupid, released in October 2019, based on the story of the same name in West of Rome.
On January 18, 2001, the play 1933 by Randal Myler and Brockman Seawell, based on Fante's novel 1933 Was a Bad Year, premiered at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

Novels