Claudio Magris (Trieste , 1939 ) is one of the leading figures of Italian literature. Narrator , essayist and translator of writers like Ibsen , Kleist and Schnitzler , is author of a vast and diverse workforce , which include his novels The Danube , Other sea and Microcosmos as well as his books of essays and Clarisse ring and Utopia disenchantment. He has won numerous awards including the Leipizig Book Award , the Gold Medal of the Fine Arts in Madrid and the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature .