BERLIN PORTRAIT GALLERY – PIONEERS OF LITERATURE, PART 2: EINAUDI PUBLISHERS

Being published by Einaudi was a great honour; books were regarded as something sacred. Works loyal to the regime were savaged in their magazines. House searches and prison sentences did nothing to alter their editorial policy.

For decades, the Turin-based publishing house was a melting pot of intellectual currents and wonderful writers such as Marcel Proust, Elsa Morante, Jean-Paul Sartre and Ernest Hemingway.

Those in charge at Einaudi distinguished themselves through their political stance, daring and great artistic talent. The fact that this fantastically creative place – Einaudi – has since been taken over by Italy’s largest magazine publisher, Mondadori, which – to make matters worse – has been chaired since 2003 by Marina Berlusconi, daughter of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, is almost bitter.

Despite this turn of events, let us not give up, but draw confidence from the ideas and ‘literary deeds’ of the magnificent founders of Einaudi.