Giuseppe Ungaretti 256125 223043547 2008-07-02T09:22:09Z Claudio D'Amato 7361521 commas in the first paragraph; de-capitalized names of literary movements {{Infobox Writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox Writer/doc]] --> | name =Giuseppe Ungaretti | image = | imagesize = | caption = | pseudonym = | birthdate = {{birth date|1888|2|8|df=y}} | birthplace = [[Alexandria]] | deathdate = {{death date and age|1970|6|2|1888|2|8|df=y}} | deathplace = [[Milan]] | occupation = poet, journalist, essayist, academic, civil servant | nationality = [[Italy|Italian]] | period = 1912-1970 | genre = [[lyric poetry]], [[free verse]] | subject = [[literary criticism]] | movement = [[Symbolism (arts)|Symbolism]]<br>[[Futurism]]<br>[[Dada]]<br>''[[La Ronda]]''<br>[[Ermetismo]] | influences = [[Guillaume Apollinaire]], [[Charles Baudelaire]], [[Gabriele d'Annunzio]], [[Jules Laforgue]], [[Stéphane Mallarmé]], [[Filippo Tommaso Marinetti]], [[Arturo Onofri]], [[Arthur Rimbaud]], [[Tristan Tzara]], [[Paul Valéry]] | influenced = [[Alfonso Gatto]], [[Mario Luzi]], [[Eugenio Montale]], [[Salvatore Quasimodo]], [[Leonardo Sinisgalli]] | signature = | website = }} '''Giuseppe Ungaretti''' ([[February 8]], [[1888]]&ndash;[[June 2]], [[1970]]) was an [[Italy|Italian]] [[Modernism|modernist]] poet, journalist, essayist, critic and academic. A leading representative of the [[Experimental literature|experimental]] trend known as ''[[ermetismo]]'', he was one of the most prominent contributors to 20th century [[Italian literature]]. Influenced by [[Symbolism (arts)|symbolism]], he was briefly aligned with [[futurism]]. Like many futurists, he took an [[Italia irredenta|irredentist]] and [[Militarism|militarist]] position during [[World War I]]. Ungaretti debuted as a poet while fighting in the [[Trench warfare|trenches]], publishing one of his best-known pieces, ''[[L'allegria]]'' ("The Joy"). During the [[interwar period]], Ungaretti was a supporter of [[Italian fascism]], a collaborator of [[Benito Mussolini]], as well as a foreign-based correspondent for ''[[Il Popolo d'Italia]]'' and ''[[Gazzetta del Popolo]]''. While briefly associated with the [[Dadaism|Dadaists]], he developed ''ermetismo'' as a personal take on poetry. After spending several years in [[Brazil]], he returned home during [[World War II]], and was assigned a teaching post at the [[Sapienza University of Rome|University of Rome]], where he spent the final decades of his life and career. His fascist past was the subject of controversy. ==Biography== ===Early life=== Ungaretti was born in [[Alexandria]], [[Egypt]] into a family from the [[Tuscany|Tuscan]] city of [[Lucca]].<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.204</ref> As a child, he was nursed by a [[Nubia]]n nurse named Bahita, and, as an adult, claimed that her influence accounted for his own [[exoticism]].<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.204</ref> Ungaretti's father worked on digging the [[Suez Canal]], where he suffered a fatal accident in 1890.<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.204</ref> His widowed mother, who ran a bakery on the edge of the [[Sahara]], educated her child on the basis of [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] tenets.<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.204</ref> Giuseppe Ungaretti's formal education began in [[French language|French]], at Alexandria's [[Switzerland|Swiss]] School.<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.204</ref> It was there that he became acquainted with [[Parnassianism]] and [[Symbolist poetry]], in particular with [[Gabriele d'Annunzio]], [[Charles Baudelaire]], [[Jules Laforgue]], [[Stéphane Mallarmé]] and [[Arthur Rimbaud]].<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.204</ref> He also became familiar with works of the [[Classicism|Classicists]] [[Giacomo Leopardi]] and [[Giosuè Carducci]], as well as with the writings of maverick author [[Giovanni Pascoli]].<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.204</ref> This period marked his debut as a journalist and literary critic, with pieces published ''Risorgete'', a journal edited by [[Anarchism|anarchist]] writer [[Enrico Pea]].<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.204</ref> At the time, he was in correspondence with [[Giuseppe Prezzolini]], editor of the influential magazine ''[[La Voce]]''.<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.204</ref> In 1912, the twenty-four year old Giuseppe Ungaretti moved to [[Paris]], [[France]]. On his way there, he stopped in [[Rome]], [[Florence]] and [[Milan]], meeting face to face with Prezzolini.<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.204</ref> Ungaretti attended lectures at the [[Collège de France]] and the [[University of Paris]], and had among his teachers philosopher [[Henri Bergson]], whom he reportedly admired.<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.204</ref> The young writer also met and befriended French literary figure [[Guillaume Apollinaire]], a promoter of [[Cubism]] and a forerunner of [[Surrealism]].<ref>Payne; Picchione & Smith, p.204</ref> Apollinaire's work to be a noted influence on his own.<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.204</ref> He was also in contact with the Italian expatriates, including leading representatives of [[Futurism]] such as [[Carlo Carrà]], [[Umberto Boccioni]], [[Aldo Palazzeschi]], [[Giovanni Papini]] and [[Ardengo Soffici]],<ref>Payne; Picchione & Smith, p.204-205</ref> as well as with the independent visual artist [[Amedeo Modigliani]].<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.204-205</ref> ===World War I and debut=== Upon the outbreak of [[World War I]] in 1914, Ungaretti, like his Futurist friends, supported an [[Italia irredenta|irredentist]] position, and called for his country's intervention on the side of the [[Allies of World War I|Entente Powers]].<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.205</ref> Enrolled in the infantry a year later, he saw action on the [[Italian Campaign (World War I)|Northern Italian theater]], serving in the [[Trench warfare|trenches]].<ref>Payne; Picchione & Smith, p.205</ref> In contrast to his early enthusiasm, he became appalled by the realities of war.<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.205</ref> The conflict also made Ungaretti discover his talent as a poet, and, in 1917, he published the volume of [[free verse]] ''Il porto sepolto'' ("The Buried Port"), largely written on the [[Kras]] front.<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.205; Talbot, p.128</ref> Although depicting the hardships of war life, his celebrated poem ''[[L'allegria]]'' was not unenthusiastic about its purpose; this made Ungaretti's stance contrast with that of [[Lost Generation]] writers, who questioned their countries' intents, and similar to that of [[Militarism|militarist]] Italian intellectuals such as Soffici, [[Filippo Tommaso Marinetti]], [[Piero Jahier]] and [[Curzio Malaparte]].<ref>David Forgacs, "Twentieth-century Culture", in [[George Holmes (professor)|George Holmes]] (ed.), ''The Oxford Illustrated History of Italy'', [[Oxford University Press]], Oxford, p.300. ISBN:0198205279</ref> By the time the [[Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)|1918 armistice]] was signed, Ungaretti was again in Paris.<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.205</ref> He had by come to sympathize with [[Benito Mussolini]]'s emerging [[Italian fascism|fascist movement]], and was working as a correspondent for Mussolini's paper ''[[Il Popolo d'Italia]]''.<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.205; Talbot, p.142</ref> He published a volume of French-language poetry, titled ''La guerre'' ("The War", 1919).<ref>Payne</ref> In 1920, Giuseppe Ungaretti married the Frenchwoman Jeanne Dupoix, with whom he had a daughter, Ninon (born 1925), and a son, Antonietto (born 1930).<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.205</ref> During that period in Paris, Ungaretti came to affiliate with the [[anti-establishment]] and anti-art current known as [[Dada]]ism. He was present in the Paris-based Dadaist circle led by [[Romania]]n poet [[Tristan Tzara]], being, alongside [[Alberto Savinio]], [[Julius Evola]], [[Gino Cantarelli]], [[Aldo Fiozzi]] and [[Enrico Prampolini]], one of the figures who established a transition from Italian Futurism to Dada.<ref>Richter, p.199</ref> In May 1921, he was present at the Dadaist mock trial of [[reactionary]] author [[Maurice Barrès]], during which the Dadaist movement began to separate itself into two competing wings, respectively headed by Tzara and [[André Breton]].<ref>Richter, p.183-184</ref> He was also affiliated with the literary circle formed around the journal ''[[La Ronda]]''.<ref>Payne</ref> ===''Ermetismo'' and fascism=== The year after his marriage, he returned to Italy, settling in Rome as a [[Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs|Foreign Ministry]] employee.<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.205</ref> By then, Mussolini had organized the [[March on Rome]], which confirmed his seizure of power. Ungaretti remained an admirer of Mussolini and a supporter of his [[Blackshirts]] and [[National Fascist Party]]. In his essays of 1926-1929, republished in 1996, he repeatedly called on the ''[[Duce]]'' to direct cultural development in Italy and reorganize the [[Accademia dei Lincei|Italian Academy]] on fascist lines.<ref name="cdsserve">{{it icon}} Giorgio De Rienzo, [http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/1996/dicembre/12/Ungaretti_Serve_Duce_alla_guida_co_0_96121214519.shtml "Ungaretti: 'Serve un Duce alla guida della cultura' "], in ''[[Corriere della Sera]]'', [[December 12]], [[1996]]</ref> He argued: "The first task of the Academy will be to reestablish a certain connection between men of letters, between writers, teachers, publicists. This people is hungers for poetry. If it had not been for the miracle of Blackshirts, we would never have leaped this far."<ref name="cdsserve"/> In his private letters to a French critic, Ungaretti also claimed that fascist rule did not imply [[censorship]].<ref name="cdsserve"/> Mussolini, who did not give a favorable answer to Ungaretti's appeal,<ref name="cdsserve"/> prefaced the 1923 edition of ''Il porto sepolto'', thus politicizing its message.<ref>Talbot, p.128, 142</ref> In 1925, Ungaretti experienced a religious crisis, which, three years later, made him return to the Roman Catholic Church.<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.205</ref> Meanwhile, he contributed to a number of journals and published a series of poetry volumes, before becoming a foreign correspondent for ''[[Gazetta del Popolo]]'' in 1931, and traveling not only to Egypt, [[Corsica]] and the [[Netherlands]], but also to various regions of Italy.<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.205</ref> It was during this period that Ungaretti introduced ''[[Ermetismo]]'', baptized with the [[Italian language|Italian-language]] word for "[[hermeticism]]".<ref name="ermwebst">"Hermeticism", entry in ''Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature'', [[Merriam-Webster]], Springfield, 1995, p.540. ISBN 0877790426</ref> The new trend, inspired by both Symbolism and Futurism, had its origins in both ''Il porto sepolto'', where Ungaretti had eliminated structure, [[syntax]] and punctuation, and the earlier contributions of [[Arturo Onofri]].<ref name="ermwebst"/> The style was indebted to the influence of Symbolists from [[Edgar Allan Poe]] to Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Mallarmé and [[Paul Valéry]].<ref name="ermwebst"/> Alongside Ungaretti, its main representatives were [[Eugenio Montale]] and [[Salvatore Quasimodo]].<ref name="ermwebst"/> Despite the critical acclaim he enjoyed, the poet confronted himself with financial difficulties.<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.205</ref> In 1936, he moved to the [[Brazil]]ian city of [[São Paulo]], and became a Professor of Italian at [[University of São Paulo|São Paulo University]].<ref>Payne; Picchione & Smith, p.205</ref> It was there that, in 1939, his son Antonietto died as a result of a badly performed [[appendectomy]].<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.205</ref> ===World War II and after=== In 1942, three years after the start of [[World War II]], Ungaretti returned to [[Axis Powers|Axis]]-allied Italy, where he was received with honors by the officials.<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.205</ref> The same year, he was made a Professor of Modern Literature at the [[Sapienza University of Rome|University of Rome]].<ref>Payne; Picchione & Smith, p.205</ref> He continued to write poetry, and published a series of essays.<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.205</ref> By then, ''Ermetismo'' came to an end, and Ungaretti, like Montale and Quasimodo, had adopted a more formal style in his poetry.<ref name="ermwebst"/> At the close of the war, following Mussolini's downfall, Ungaretti was expelled from the faculty due to his fascist connections, but reinstated when his colleagues voted in favor of his return.<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.205</ref> Affected by his wife's 1958 death, Giuseppe Ungaretti sought comfort in traveling throughout Italy and abroad.<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.205</ref> He visited [[Japan]], the [[Soviet Union]], [[Israel]] and the [[United States]].<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.205</ref> In 1964, he gave a series of lectures at [[Columbia University]] in [[New York City]], and, in 1970, was invited by the [[University of Oklahoma]] to receive its [[Neustadt Prize|Books Abroad Prize]].<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.205</ref> During this last trip, Ungaretti fell ill with [[bronchopneumonia]], and, although he received treatment in New York City, died while under doctor supervision in Milan.<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.205</ref> He was buried in Rome.<ref>Picchione & Smith, p.205</ref> ==Legacy== Although Ungaretti parted with ''Ermetismo'', his early experiments were continued for a while by poets such as [[Alfonso Gatto]], [[Mario Luzi]] and [[Leonardo Sinisgalli]].<ref name="ermwebst"/> His collected works were published as ''Vita di un uomo'' ("The Life of a Man") at the time of his death.<ref>Payne</ref> Two of Ungaretti's poems ("Soldiers - War - Another War" and "Vanity") were made into song by [[United States|American]] composer [[Harry Partch]] (''Eleven Intrusions'', 1949-50); and eleven poems were set by the French-Romanian composer [[Horaţiu Rădulescu]] in his cycle ''End of Kronos'' (1999). ==Published volumes== *''Il porto sepolto'' ("The Buried Port", 1916 and 1923) *''La guerre'' ("The War", 1919 and 1947) *''Allegria di naufragi'' ("The Joy of Shipwrecks", 1919) *''L'allegria'' ("The Joy", 1931) *''Sentimento del tempo'' ("The Feeling of Time", 1933) *''Traduzioni'' ("Translations", 1936) *''Poesie disperse'' ("Scattered Poems", 1945) *''Il dolore'' ("The Pain", 1947) *''La terra promessa'' ("The Promised Land", 1950) *''Un grido e paesaggi'' ("A Shout and Landscapes", 1952) *''Il taccuino del vecchio'' ("The Old Man's Notebook", 1960) *''Vita di un uomo'' ("The Life of a Man", 1969) ==Notes== {{Reflist|3}} ==References== *Roberta L. Payne, "Ungaretti, Giuseppe", in ''A Selection of Modern Italian Poetry in Translation'', [[McGill-Queen's University Press]], Montreal & Kingston, p.198. ISBN 0773526978 *John Picchione, Lawrence R. Smith, ''Twentieth-century Italian Poetry. An Anthology'', [[University of Toronto Press]], Totonto, 1993. ISBN 0802073689 *[[Hans Richter (artist)|Hans Richter]], ''Dada. Art and Anti-art'', [[Thames & Hudson]], London & New York, 2004. ISBN 0-500-20039-4 *George Talbot, [http://www.hull.ac.uk/languages/staff/academic/G_TALBOT/publications/Censorship_in_Fascist_Italy.pdf "Alberto Moravia and Italian Fascism: Censorship, Racism and ''Le ambizioni sbagliate''"], in ''Modern Italy'', Vol. 11, No. 2, June 2006 (hosted by the [[University of Hull]]) <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] --> {{Persondata |NAME=Ungaretti, Giuseppe |ALTERNATIVE NAMES= |SHORT DESCRIPTION=Italian writer and leader of Ermetismo movement |DATE OF BIRTH=1888-02-08 |PLACE OF BIRTH= Alexandria |DATE OF DEATH=1970-05-02 |PLACE OF DEATH=Milan }} {{DEFAULTSORT:Ungaretti, Giuseppe}} [[Category:Italian essayists]] [[Category:Italian journalists]] [[Category:Italian poets]] [[Category:Italian writers in French]] [[Category:World War I poets]] [[Category:Dada]] [[Category:Futurism]] [[Category:Symbolist poets]] [[Category:People from Alexandria]] [[Category:Expatriates in Egypt]] [[Category:Italian expatriates in France]] [[Category:Italian military personnel of World War I]] [[Category:Italian civil servants]] [[Category:Italian fascists]] [[Category:Italian expatriates in Brazil]] [[Category:University of São Paulo faculty]] [[Category:University of Rome La Sapienza faculty]] [[Category:Deaths from pneumonia]] [[Category:1888 births]] [[Category:1970 deaths]] [[de:Giuseppe Ungaretti]] [[es:Giuseppe Ungaretti]] [[eo:Giuseppe Ungaretti]] [[fr:Giuseppe Ungaretti]] [[is:Giuseppe Ungaretti]] [[it:Giuseppe Ungaretti]] [[la:Iosephus Ungaretti]] [[nl:Giuseppe Ungaretti]] [[pms:Giuseppe Ungaretti]] [[pt:Giuseppe Ungaretti]] [[ru:Унгаретти, Джузеппе]]