Gramsci: a new biography

Abstract

In Gramsci: A New Biography, Angelo D'Orsi divides the author's career into five parts: “On the Island” (1891-1911), “On the Continent” (1911-1922), “In Europe” (1922-1926), “From Rome to Turi” (1926-1928), and “From Turi to Rome” (1928-1937). The biography follows a chronological line, beginning with A. Gramsci's childhood in Sardinia, where he was born in 1891, the fourth of seven siblings. From an early age, he faced difficulties with physical and material conditions: the stigma of a “hunchback” present at 18 months of age, his father's imprisonment, and the poverty of his mother, Marcias Peppina. D'Orsi presents Gramsci's childhood on the small island from an intimate point of view, focusing on the conflicts within the home, as occurs throughout the biography, presenting biographical data, especially his political and intellectual trajectory in its “embodied” content.