Cesare Pavese was born September 9, 1908, in Santo Stefano Belbo, Italy, a southern town where his family spent summer vacations. The family home was in Turin, in northern Italy. His father, Eugenio Pavese, worked for the court system. When Pavese was six, his father died of a brain tumor. His mother was a cold and distant woman, and Pavese grew up accustomed to spending time by himself and keeping himself amused.

Pavese started writing poetry while studying at the lyceum, or senior high school, in Turin, and had a few works published before he graduated. It was there that Pavese met Augusto Monti, a teacher who encouraged his writing and influenced his antifascist political stance. At the University of Turin, Pavese studied American literature and later became an important translator of seminal American works, introducing them to the Italian reading public. The thesis he wrote upon graduating...