Author: Eugenio Montale
File Type: pdf
A strong, idiomatic new translation of Italys greatest modern poet. Eugenio Montale is universally recognized as having brought the great Italian lyric tradition that begins with Dante into the twentieth century with unrivaled power and brilliance. Montale is a love poet whose deeply beautiful, individual work confronts the dilemmas of modern history, philosophy, and faith with courage and subtlety he has been widely translated into English and his work has influenced two generations of American and British poets. Jonathan Galassis versions of Montales major works--Ossi di seppia, Le occasioni, and La bufera e altro--are the clearest and most convincing yet, and his extensive notes discuss in depth the sources and difficulties of this dense, allusive poetry. This book offers English-language readers uniquely informed and readable access to the work of one of the greatest of all modern poets. Eugenio Montale (1896-1981) received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1975. Jonathan Galassi has also translated Montales The Second Life of Art Selected Essays and Otherwise Last and First Poems.Amazon.com ReviewA white dove has landed meamong headstones, under spires where the sky nests.Dawns and lights in air Ive loved the sun,colors of honey, now I crave the dark,I want the smoldering fire, this tombthat doesnt soar, your stare that dares it to. --Eugenio MontaleOperas loss was poetrys gain. Eugenio Montale, the 1975 Nobel Prize winner in literature and one of Italys greatest poets, originally aspired to be an opera singer. Born in Genoa in 1896, Montale was a delicate child, his health precluding him from getting a formal education instead, he spent his youth reading philosophy, literature, and Italian classics, and training as a baritone. World War I found him serving as an infantry officer on the Austrian front. Upon his return to civilian life, Montale took up singing again, but after the death of his voice teacher in 1923, he abandoned his operatic hopes. Just two years later, he published his first collection of poetry, Cuttlefish Bones. Over the next 50 years, Montale would produce many poems in between his work as a journalist Jonathan Galassis Collected Poems 1920-1954, however, concentrates on three collections that are, arguably, his masterpieces Cuttlefish Bones (1925) The Occasions (1948) and The Storm, Etc. (1956). In addition to Galassis excellent translations, two other things stand out about this book one is that both Italian and English versions can be read side by side the other is that Galassi has thoroughly annotated these poems, placing Montales challenging work in its historical, cultural, and personal context. We are told, for example, that Leaving a Dove is, in part, about the poets abandonment of an old lover for a new one. Such information adds piquancy to the imagery and depth to the readers appreciation. --Alix WilberFrom Library JournalThe work of Montale, the great modern Italian poet and 1975 Nobel prize winner, swarms with musical imagery and many-layered wordplay. One of many translators (William Arrowsmith, Cuttlefish Bones, LJ 793, is another), Galassi presents a hefty bilingual edition that contains translations of three works Cuttlefish Bones (1920-27) The Occasions (1928-39) and The Storm and Other Things (1940-54). Galassi argues that Montales later work is secondary and that poetry from Cuttlefish Bones to The Storm describes a complete arc, one of the greatest in modern literature. Galassis edition provides copious critical annotation, a painstaking attempt to explicate Montales collage of borrowings. Identifying allusions (the Holocaust, Stalins purges), influences (Browning, DAnnunzio), sources (Dante, Debussy), and themes (Crowds in Montale always carry infernal associations), Galassis linguistic-textural analysis unravels many elements of the poets voice a sinuous, constantly transforming series of metaphors spiraling around an elusive central core. This marriage of creative literary research and inspired poetic scholarship helps make Montale accessible to English-speaking readers. With a thorough chronology an insightful essay, Reading Montale and an index of titles and first lines highly recommended for all major poetry collections.?Frank Allen, North Hampton Community Coll., Tannersville, PA 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.