One of the major figures of the Italian twentieth-century literary landscape, Carlo Levi was a multifaceted intellectual: writer, painter, philosopher, doctor, and antifascist activist. His name is closely associated with his book Cristo si è fermato a Eboli [Christ Stopped at Eboli], published in 1945 and quickly translated into all major languages: the chronicle of the year 1935-36 spent by Levi in confino politico [internal political exile] in a small southern Italian village, the book brought the condition of poor peasants to national attention and infused a new human dimension to the debate around the Questione meridionale [Southern Question], i.e., the economic and cultural disparity between the North and the South of Italy. Levi’s life and work were profoundly influenced by the experience of living his early years under the oppressive fascist regime. The pursuit...
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Citation: Bartalesi-Graf, Daniela. "Carlo Levi". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 July 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12972, accessed 09 June 2026.]
