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Guido Gozzano | |
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| Born | Guido Gustavo Gozzano (1883-12-19)19 December 1883 |
| Died | 9 August 1916(1916-08-09) (aged 32) Turin, Kingdom of Italy |
| Occupation | Poet,writer |
| Literary movement | Crepuscolari |
Guido Gustavo Gozzano (Italian:[ˈɡwiːdoɡodˈdzaːno]; 19 December 1883 – 9 August 1916) was an Italianpoet andwriter.
He was born inTurin, the son of Fausto Gozzano, an engineer,[1] and of Diodata Mautino, the daughter of Senator Mautino,[1] patriot and supporter ofGiuseppe Mazzini andMassimo D'Azeglio. He spent his life in Turin and inAgliè (in theCanavese area), where his family owned several buildings and a large estate: Villa Il Meleto.
Of delicate health (but nevertheless practising sports such asice-skating,cycling, andswimming), he completed primary school with mediocre results,[1] and attendedLiceo classico Cavour; in 1903, after secondary school, he studied law at theUniversity of Turin[1] but never graduated, preferring to attend thecrepuscolari torinesi, i.e. literature lessons by poetArturo Graf, who was well-liked by the young men of letters.[1]
Graf exercised great influence over Gozzano.[1] HisLeopardi-inspiredpessimism was mitigated by a spiritualistic form ofsocialism, a combination which young Turinese intellectuals (who saw in his thought an "antidote" to the style ofGabriele D'Annunzio) particularly favoured. Graf helped Gozzano depart from D'Annunzio's canon, which imbued his early work, by "going back to the sources" and devoting himself to a thorough study of the poetry ofDante Alighieri andFrancesco Petrarca, which helped refine his poetic sensibility.[1]
In May 1907 Gozzano's weak health suddenly worsened due to severepleurisy, which forced the poet to spend the remainder of his solitary life on theItalian Riviera (mostly San Giuliano d'Albaro) and in mountain towns (Ceresole Reale, Ronco, Bertesseno, Fiery).
1907 was also the year when his affair with young poetAmalia Guglielminetti began, originally as an exchange of letters—the two had originally met while attending theSocietà di Cultura.Their love letters, exchanged in 1907-1909 but first published in 1951 asLettere, reveal a profoundly tender love, which Gozzano at times tried to shirk away from, preferring a safer "literary comradeship".
In the same year Gozzano's first collection of poems (written between 1904 and 1907),La via del rifugio, appeared under the imprint of the Turin publisher Streglio.
In 1909 Gozzano gave up law studies altogether and devoted himself completely to poetry. Two years later, he published hisopus magnum, the bookI colloqui (literally "Conversations"), with theMilanese publisher Treves. The poems therein are in three sections, titledIl giovenile errore (lit. "The youthful error"),Alle soglie (lit. "At the threshold"), andIl reduce (lit. "The survivor"). "I colloqui" met much success with critics and readers, and prompted several offers of collaboration with important magazines and newspapers, among which wereLa Stampa,La Lettura, andLa Donna. The latter provided Gozzano with a fertile forum to publish both prose and poetry.
"I Colloqui” includes “La signorina Felicita ovvero la Felicità”, probably the most renowned work ever written by Gozzano[1]. In this long poem, the author evokes his feelings for Felicita, an ordinary girl, who describes resorting tofigurative art aesthetics, as a «flemish beauty»,[2] in pure post-decadent style. In this poem, the author deals with many of his work’s usual themes (his health condition, his pessimistic worldview, his yearning to visit far and exotic countries) in his trademark witty and ironic manner.
Gozzano's worsening health prompted the decision to travel toIndia andCeylon, looking for a climate more suited to his breathing impairment. His cruise ship leftGenoa on 16 February 1912, returning in May 1913 after visits toColombo andBombay. He did not get better, but the travel, together with extensive reading, inspired the texts that were to be collected and posthumously published (in 1917) under the titleVerso la cuna del mondo (lit., "Towards the world's cradle").
The last years of Gozzano's life yielded little literary production. In March 1914, he published onLa Stampa some fragments of the long poemLe Farfalle (lit. "The butterflies"), also known asEpistole entomologiche (lit. "Entomological epistles"), which he would never complete. The collection of sixfairy tales he had written for the children's magazineCorriere dei Piccoli, titledI tre talismani (lit. "The three talismans"), was also published at this time. An avidtheatre andmovie fan, Gozzano adapted some of his short stories for production. Between 1914 and 1915 he composed a few unremarkable poems aboutWorld War I, which met little success with his audience.
In 1916, shortly before his death, Gozzano began writing the script for a film aboutFrancis of Assisi, which was never filmed. The poet was laid to rest in Agliè. He was an atheist.[3]
Archived 13 July 2006 at theWayback Machine(in Italian)
