Elio Vittorini holds a major position in twentieth-century Italian literature thanks to both his narrative production and his activity as editor and militant intellectual. The aim of this book is to present the English-speaking reader with a comprehensive study of the author, his times and his work. Particular attention has been paid to the interconnection between Vittorini's work as a fiction writer and his political commitment which saw him move from revolutionary fascism to communism, to independent left-wing militancy. The combination of extensive archival research with a re-appraisal of his fiction and of his editorial activity provides a full picture reaching beyond the traditional restricted view of Vittorini as the anti-fascist author of Conversazione in Sicilia. Guido Bonsaver is Lecturer in Italian at Royal Holloway University of London. Among his studies on twentieth-century Italian writers, he has published Il mondo scritto di Italo Calvino (Turin, 1995).