Naples. The publisher Tullio Pironti passed away in his home in the center of Naples, at the age of 84.
He began his publishing career in 1972 with the book-reportage The Long Night of the Fedayeen written by the journalist Carrattelli, in the aftermath of the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Games.
His family began their book-selling activity after the persecution suffered in the Bourbon kingdom by Michele Pironti (1814-1885), a magistrate, imprisoned together with Luigi Settembrini and Carlo Poerio.
Tullio Pironti continued the work of his father and grandfather. As a publisher, he had the merit of making foreign authors known in Italy, in particular those of North American literature, starting from Don DeLillo, passing through Bret Easton Ellis, but also Raymond Caraver and the Egyptian Nobel Prize winner Nagib Mahfuz.
“The rights of Bret Easton Ellis I won them in a telephone auction. They explained to me that the only way to win was to offer more than 50 million, beyond which the big publishing houses had to convene the board of directors. I offered 55 million, the equivalent of 200 today. The recklessness of the player prevailed,” he said in an interview. Fernanda Pivano rewarded the gamble by giving Pironti her preface to the book and Pironti himself years later published Pivano's book, 'After Hemingway', a series of essays on North American literature of the roaring twenties, accompanied by the biography - also in images - of the famous writer and translator. Among the Italian authors, Pironti published the famous book by the journalist Joe Marrazzo, 'The Camorrista', on Raffaele Cutolo which was made into a successful film.
Always on Pall Mall, tough look, a past as a boxer (50 fights, a call-up to the Italian Welterweight Boxing National Team and a biographical book 'Tra libri e pugno' written by the journalist Carratelli) Pironti was an institution in via Port'Alba, a stone's throw from Piazza Dante in Naples, where his historic bookshop stood.
When interviewing him a few years ago, a journalist from La Stampa asked him if he had already chosen a suitable death, he replied: “By the way, Thomas Mann always comes to mind: “We always think about death but when it comes I already know I'll say: 'is that all?'”.
Article published on 16 September 2021 - 06:40
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