Inge Feltrinelli, one of Italy's most prominent publishers, died on September 18, the New York Times reported. She was 87. Inge Schönthal was an accomplished photojournalist when she met Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli in 1958 at a party honoring him for securing the international rights to Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago. The couple married in 1959.
"From then on I was interested in authors and books," said Inge Feltrinelli, who took control of the publishing house in the late 1960s. The Times noted that "in an industry dominated by men, she proved to be a gifted manager, and under her leadership Feltrinelli moved away from its original leftist orientation toward publishing books more in the mainstream. But she continued to believe that books could change society."
The company also operates a bookstore chain, and the day after her death, branches across Italy paid tribute "by playing a waltz from Luchino Visconti's 1963 film adaptation of The Leopard, the bestselling novel by Giuseppe di Lampedusa that was published by the house in 1958. The bookstores invited shoppers to dance," the Times wrote.
Several people in the book world remembered Feltrinelli in a collection of tributes posted on Lit Hub.
Author Richard Ford observed that "Inge believed in the promise of imaginative writing and therefore in the promise of publishing books. Namely that the world has an unexpressed need and that acts of imagination can approach that need. She believed that there will be a future in which books would and will be useful, and that publishing will continue being dedicated to that need. In other words, Inge believed that the only golden age is the one we're living in right now; and it was her responsibility to burnish that patina a bit more brightly. She embodied and she reflected that brightness in her every breathing moment. I'm sorry for everyone who didn't know her."
Lisa and Richard Howorth, owners of Square Books in Oxford, Miss., noted that if "it seems that being with Inge Feltrinelli was like being in the movies, that is somewhat true. The scenery was always glamorous and the stories splendid, with plenty of laughter, though the conversation was generally serious, about literature or politics. But the movies don't give you friendship and love, or endless coupes of her signature pink champagne, with which we'll be toasting….'To Inge!' "