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Salvatore Quasimodo (Italian:[salvaˈtoːrekwaˈziːmodo]; 20 August 1901 – 14 June 1968) was an Italian poet and translator, awarded the1959 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times".[1] Along withGiuseppe Ungaretti andEugenio Montale, he was one of the foremost Italian poets of the 20th century.
Quasimodo spent his childhood inRoccalumera. In 1908 his family moved toMessina, as his father had been sent there to help the local population struck by a devastating earthquake. The impressions of the effects of natural forces would have a great impact on the young Quasimodo. In 1919 he graduated from the local Technical College. In Messina, he also made friends withGiorgio La Pira, future mayor ofFlorence.
In 1917 Quasimodo founded the short-livedNuovo giornale letterario ("New Literary Journal"), in which he published his first poems. In 1919 he moved to Rome to finish his engineering studies, but poor economic conditions forced him to find work as a technical draughtsman. In the meantime, he collaborated with several reviews and studiedGreek andLatin.
In 1929, invited byElio Vittorini, who had married Quasimodo's sister, he moved to Florence. Here he met poets such asAlessandro Bonsanti andEugenio Montale. In 1930 he took a job with Italy's Civil Engineering Corps inReggio Calabria. Here he met the Misefari brothers, who encouraged him to continue writing. Developing his nearness to thehermetic movement, Quasimodo published his first collection,Acque e terre ("Waters and Earths") in that year.
In 1931 he was transferred toImperia and then toGenoa, where he got acquainted withCamillo Sbarbaro and other personalities of theCircoli magazine, with which Quasimodo started a fruitful collaboration.[10] In 1932 he published with them a new collection,Oboe sommerso, including all his lyrics from 1930 to 1932.
In 1934 Quasimodo moved toMilan. Starting from 1938 he devoted himself entirely to writing, working withCesare Zavattini and forLetteratura, the official review of theHermetic movement. In 1938 he publishedPoesie, followed by the translations ofLirici Greci ("Greek Poets") published byCorrente di Vita in 1939.
Though an outspoken anti-Fascist, duringWorld War II Quasimodo did not take part in the Italian resistance against the German occupation. In that period he devoted himself to the translation of theGospel of John, of some ofCatullus's cantos, and several episodes of theOdyssey. In 1945 he became a member of theItalian Communist Party, but only remained a member for a short period.
In 1946 he published another collection,Giorno dopo giorno ("Day After Day"), which made clear the increasing moral engagement and the epic tone of the social criticism of the author. The same theme characterized his next works,La vita non è sogno ("Life Is Not a Dream"),Il falso e il vero verde ("The False and True Green") andLa terra impareggiabile ("The Incomparable Land"). In all this period Quasimodo did not stop producing translations of classic authors and collaborating as a journalist for some of the most prestigious Italian publications (mostly with articles about the theatre).
In the 1950s Quasimodo won the following literary awards: Premio San Babila (1950), Premio Etna-Taormina (1953),Premio Viareggio (1958) and, finally, the Nobel Prize for Literature (1959). In 1960 and 1967 he receivedhonoris causa degrees from the Universities ofMessina andOxford, respectively.
In his last years, the poet made numerous voyages to Europe and America, giving public speeches and public lectures on his poems, which had been translated into several foreign languages.
Traditional literary critique divides Quasimodo's work into two major periods: thehermetic period until World War II and the post-hermetic era until his death. Although these periods are distinct, they can be seen as a single poetical quest. This quest or exploration for a unique language took him through various stages and various modalities of expression.
As an intelligent and clever poet, Quasimodo used ahermetical, "closed" language to sketch recurring motifs like Sicily, religion and death. Subsequently, the translation of authors from Roman and Greek Antiquity enabled him to extend his linguistic toolkit. The disgust and sense of absurdity of World War II also had an impact on the poet's language.This bitterness, however, faded in his late writings and was replaced by the mature voice of an old poet reflecting upon his world.
