John Fante was an American writer who struggled with poverty and worked as a Hollywood screenwriter to support his family. He gained success with his Bandini novels, which were autobiographical and semi-autobiographical. Fante’s simple yet powerful writing style focused on dysfunctional characters and atmospheric tone. He struggled with diabetes and other health issues, but dictated his final novel to his wife before his death in 1983. Charles Bukowski’s recommendation brought renewed interest in Fante’s books, which are now all back in print.
John Fante was one of the great unsung heroes of American literature. Often viewed as an outsider, the real-life story of him was the stuff novels are made of. John Fante was a writer of short stories and books, but for most of his life he made money writing movie scripts for Hollywood.
John Fante was born in 1909 in Denver, Colorado. His father had emigrated from Italy and spent much of his childhood in poverty. He attended the University of Colorado, but determined to become a writer, he dropped out in 1929. Fante then moved to California and stayed in affordable boarding houses while working menial jobs.
Fante’s break into published writing came with a story in The American Mercury magazine. He befriended the magazine’s editor, HL Mencken, and began writing novels. In his most famous works, known as the Bandini novels, John Fante used the character of Arturo Bandini as his alter ego. The novels were mostly autobiographical or semi-autobiographical accounts of Fante’s life in California.
Fante’s first novel, The Road to Los Angeles, was rejected, but he soon found publication in 1938 for his second, Wait Until Spring, Bandini. It was reviewed as the best novel of that year. Her third novel, Ask the Dust, published in 1939, is considered by many to be her masterpiece. In 1940 he married his wife, the poet Joyce Smart, and published a collection of short stories called Dago Red.
John Fante wrote stories and novels with a simple style but with a deceptive force. His stories were full of dysfunctional characters and poetically atmospheric in tone. Ask the Dust focuses on a destructive love story between writer Arturo Bandini and a Mexican waitress that eventually descends into violence and insanity. It is considered by some to be one of the finest novels in American literature.
Although Fante had published novels, his books were not selling well enough to make a living. Fante had to resort to writing film scripts to support his wife and four children. He described this type of writing as the most disgusting work in Christ’s kingdom. However, he made a living writing screenplays and it would be 12 years before he published another novel.
In 1955, John Fante was diagnosed with diabetes. In 1978, due to complications, both his legs were amputated and in 1979 he went blind. Years of writing films had broken his heart and spirit. Drink and fast money had left him with ill health and a cynical nature, but he had to write one more novel before he died.
Every morning for a year John Fante sat in his wheelchair and dictated his latest novel to his wife. Dreams from Bunker Hill was the final chapter in the Bandini saga. At the time, all of his books were out of print and his previous novel in 1977 had sold only 3,000 copies. John Fante lived to see his last book published and died in 1983.
In 1980, famed poet and writer Charles Bukowski sent a copy of Ask the Dust to his publisher asking for it to be reprinted. Bukowski’s recommendation brought renewed interest in Fante’s books. Now they are all back in print, even those that were previously rejected for publication. In 2006, a film Ask the Dust was made with Colin Farrel and Salma Hayek.
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