The works of Fenoglio have two main themes: the rural world of the Langhe, where he was born and raised, and the Italian resistance movement,[2] both largely inspired by his own personal experiences in them; equally, the writer has two styles: the chronicle and the epos.

Like most of Italian Army, the training unit of Fenoglio collapsed; he adventurously travelled back home from Rome and spent months in hiding before joining the partisans in January 1944.

His first work was in the neorealist style:[3] La paga del sabato (this was published posthumously too, in 1969).

The novel was turned down by Elio Vittorini, who advised Fenoglio to carve out stories and then incorporate them into I ventitré giorni della città di Alba (The twenty-three days of the city of Alba, 1952).

His major works were published in a critical edition after his death; controversy remains about his novel Il partigiano Johnny (translated as Johnny the Partisan), first published in 1968, by some considered his best work, which was edited posthumously based on one or both the two incomplete versions left unpublished.