Luciano Bianciardi (Italian pronunciation: [luˈtʃaːno bjanˈtʃardi]; 14 December 1922 – 14 November 1971) was an Italian writer, journalist, translator and librarian. He contributed significantly to the cultural ferment in post-war Italy, working actively with various publishing houses, magazines and newspapers. His work is characterized by periods of rebellion against the cultural establishment, to which he also belonged, and by a careful analysis of social habits during Italian economic miracle. His most famous novel, La vita agra, became a bestseller in Italy and was translated into several languages. In 1964, it was made into a film adaptation directed by Carlo Lizzani. Bianciardi was the first Italian translator of Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, Saul Bellow's Henderson the Rain King, John Steinbeck's The Winter of Our Discontent and Travels with Charley, Jack London's John Barleycorn, J.P. Donleavy's The Ginger Man and William Faulkner's A Fable and The Mansion. Source: Wikipedia (en)