Livia Schmitz

Livia Schmitz

Wife of Aron Ettore Schmitz (Italo Svevo), whose marriage into her family provided the two of them and their daughter, Letizia, financial stability through his employment in her father's marine paint business. Her famously long hair was an inspiration for Joyce's portrayal in Finnegans Wake of Anna Livia Plurabelle. Following Schmitz's death in 1928, she became a keeper of his flame, changing her surname to Svevo (following his pen name), arranging for the publication of an English translation of his novel, Senilità , and writing a memoir, Vita di mio marito (Trieste: Zibaldone, 1950). William Brockman