Publication date 1939 ( 1939) Media type Print (hardback & paperback) Preceded by Wait Until Spring, Bandini Followed by Dago Red Ask the Dust is the most popular novel of Italian-American author, first published in 1939 and set during the -era in Los Angeles. It is one of a series of novels featuring the character Arturo Bandini as Fante's alter ego, a young from struggling to make it as a writer in Los Angeles. The novel is widely regarded as an American classic, regularly on college syllabi for American literature. The book is a, much of it rooted in in Fante's life. The novel influenced significantly.

In 2006, screenwriter adapted the novel into a film,, starring. Contents • • • • • • • • Publication [ ] Initial publication of the novel followed Fante's successful publication of and his short stories in prominent publications, like. The first edition of the novel was only printed with 2,200 copies.

Description: John Fante is a lost gem of American literature and the man who was credited by Charles Bukowski as the inspiration for him to start writing. In a life that spanned 74 years, Fante wrote several great novels, such as Ask the Dust, and numerous screenplays. Oct 12, 2008 - I was on a plane when I came across Robert Towne's film of Ask the Dust, with Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek. I remembered the movie getting.

Though sales were not extensive, a paperback edition was issued by in 1954. But the novels popularity didn't reach its peak until poet led the reissue of the novel by Black Sparrow Press in 1980, alongside a foreword by Bukowski. Themes [ ] Fante's most popular novel by far, the semi-autobiographical Ask the Dust is the third book in what is now referred to as 'The Saga of Arturo Bandini' or 'The Bandini Quartet'. Bandini served as his alter ego in a total of four novels: Wait Until Spring, Bandini (1938), The Road to Los Angeles (chronologically, this is the first novel Fante wrote but it was unpublished until 1985), Ask the Dust (1939) and, finally, Dreams from Bunker Hill (1982).

The last Fante dictated to his wife, Joyce, towards the end of his life after complications from diabetes brought about blindness and the amputation of both legs. Fante's use of Bandini as his alter ego can be compared to Charles Bukowski's character, Henry Chinaski. Recurring themes in Fante's works are poverty, Catholicism, family life, identity, sports, and the life of a writer.

Ask the Dust has been referred to over the years as a monumental Southern California/Los Angeles novel by many (e.g.:, Charles Bukowski, and The Los Angeles Times Book Review). More than sixty years after it was published, Ask the Dust appeared for several weeks on the New York Times' Bestseller's List. Synopsis [ ] Arturo Bandini is a struggling writer living in a in, a rundown section of.

Living off the zest of oranges, he unconsciously creates a picture of Los Angeles as a modern during the era. His published short story 'The Little Dog Laughed' impresses no one in his seedy boarding house except for one 14-year-old girl, Judy. Destitute, he wanders into the Columbia Buffet where he meets Camilla Lopez, a waitress. Bandini falls in love with Lopez, who is herself in love with co-worker Sam. Sam despises Camilla, telling Bandini if he wants to win over Camilla, he has to treat her poorly.

Bandini struggles with his own poverty, his Catholic guilt, and with his love for an unstable and deteriorating Camilla. Camilla is eventually admitted to a mental hospital, and moved to a second one, before escaping. Bandini looks for her, only finding her as she awaits for him in his apartment.

He decides to take her away from Los Angeles, and arranges to live in a house on the beach. He buys her a little dog and they go to the new place.