A major literary award to an Italian writer with a Fascist background was canceled today by the award jury under threat by the Olivetti Corporation to stop its annual contribution of $25,000 for the prizes if the award went through.
Arrigo Olivetti said “I did not veto anybody but only confirmed that, as an anti-Fascist and a Jew, I would have the corporation funds diverted to better causes” if Guido Piovene were selected for the principal $7,000 Viareggio Prize, for his book “The Furies.”
Piovene had been considered certain to win the award until the Olivetti ultimatum. The Olivetti official said that, as a publicist, Piovene had supported Mussolini’s anti-Jewish racial laws. The jury, embarrassed by the ultimatum, urged the writer to withdraw; but he refused, asserting that his political past, which he had not denied, was not a literary question. The jury, assigning the award to another entry, was reportedly considering resigning.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
