D'Annunzio, Gabriele

D'Annunzio, Gabriele (1863-1938), Italian novelist, poet, and playwright. Although present-day critics find little of permanent value in his works, his extraordinary ability to translate sensations into language is undeniable. His florid style mirrored the Romantic, flamboyant quality of his career and personality.

D'Annunzio was born in Pescara, Abruzzi, on March 12, 1863, and educated in Florence and at the University of Rome. He left Abruzzi in 1881 for Rome. There he wrote essays for the newspaper Tribuna. A year later he won fame with Canto nuovo (1882, New Song), a volume of poems that dealt with the joy of living. D'Annunzio then turned to the novel, producing The Triumph of Death (1894; trans. 1896), which has colourful descriptions of Abruzzi life.

After 1898, the theatre held D'Annunzio's attention. During a love affair with the Italian actress Eleonora Duse, which lasted from 1897 to 1902, he wrote several plays for her, including Gioconda (1898; trans. 1902) and Francesca da Rimini (1902; trans. 1902). The novel The Flame of Life (1900; trans. 1900) is a candid and cruel account of their relationship. The Daughter of Jorio (1904; trans. 1907), widely regarded as his most vital play, was drawn from Abruzzi peasant life.

In 1912 D'Annunzio was left bankrupt and fled to France to escape his creditors. While in France he wrote several works in French; the most famous is Le Martyre de St Sébastien (1911, The Martyrdom of St Sebastian), a play in verse, to which the French composer Claude Debussy set incidental music.

D'Annunzio served with distinction in the Italian armed forces during World War I. Immediately after the war he won notoriety by leading soldiers to occupy Fiume (now Rijeka, Croatia) in defiance of the Allied powers. After he was forced to leave the city he retired to his estate on Lake Garda, where he lived until his death on March 1, 1938. He was an outspoken supporter of Italian fascism.