The following year, his best known novel, the semi-autobiographical Ask the Dust, appeared. With Mencken's help, in 1938 Fante published his first novel, Wait Until Spring, Bandini. Career Īfter many unsuccessful attempts at publishing stories in the highly regarded literary magazine The American Mercury, his short story 'Altar Boy' was accepted conditionally by the magazine's editor, H. He dropped out of college in 1929 and moved to Southern California to focus on his writing.įante and Joyce Smart met on January 30, 1937, and were married on July 31 of that same year in Reno, Nevada. He attended various Catholic schools in Boulder, Colorado, before briefly enrolling at the University of Colorado. Nicola Fante was a bricklayer and stonemason, who drank and gambled to excess, leaving the Fante family to experience bouts of poverty. His screenwriting credits include, most notably, Full of Life (1956, based on his 1952 novel by that name), Jeanne Eagels (1957), and the 1962 films Walk on the Wild Side and The Reluctant Saint.įante was born in Denver, Colorado, on April 8, 1909, to Nicola Fante from Torricella Peligna ( Abruzzo), and Mary Capolungo, a devout Catholic of Lucanian descent who was born in Chicago, Illinois. Additional works, including two novels, two novellas, and two short story collections, were published posthumously.

Fante's published works while he lived included five novels, one novella, and a short story collection. Ask the Dust was adapted into a 2006 film starring Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek. It is widely considered the great Los Angeles novel and is one in a series of four, published between 19, that are now collectively called 'The Bandini Quartet'. He is best known for his semi-autobiographical novel Ask the Dust (1939) about the life of a struggling writer, Arturo Bandini, in Depression-era Los Angeles. John Fante (Ap– May 8, 1983) was an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter.

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