Writer, critic Arbasino dies

(ANSA) - Rome, March 23 - Writer and critic Alberto Arbasino died at the age of 90 in Rome on Monday after a long illness, his family told La Repubblica daily, the paper he frequently wrote for. He was a member of the influential Gruppo 63 writers and critics group, founded in 1963.
    Born in Voghera, southwestern Lombardy, Arbasino got a law degree and worked as journalist for magazines such as Il Mondo and the newspaper La Repubblica. His work included several novels and innumerable essays.
    He described himself as an expressionist writer and considered his novel Super Eliogabalo ("Super Elagabalus", 1969) as his most surreal and most expressionist book. In the 1970s he was the host of the TV debate show Match. In 2004 he won the Premio Chiara for his career.
    From 1983 to 1987, he was a member of the Italian Parliament for the Italian Republican Party