Carlo Dionisotti (9 June 1908 in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

– 22 February 1998 in LondonConor Fahy
Obituary: Professor Carlo Dionisotti

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

, March 5, 1998. Accessed November 22, 2016) was an Italian literary critic, philologist and essayist. An alumnus of

Turin University The University of Turin (Italian language, Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Torino'', UNITO) is a public university, public research university in the city of Turin, in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region of Italy. It is one of the List ...

and a lifelong friend of

Arnaldo Momigliano Arnaldo Dante Momigliano (5 September 1908 – 1 September 1987) was an Italian historian of classical antiquity, known for his work in historiography, and characterised by Donald Kagan as "the world's leading student of the writing of history i ...

, he shortly lectured at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

before moving to

Bedford College, London file:Bedford College in York place - photographer is unknown but guess 1908.png, Bedford College was in York Place after 1874 Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as the first higher education college for education of women, women in th ...

, where he held the post of Professor of Italian from 1949 to 1970. His most significant work, ''Geografia e storia della letteratura italiana'' (1967), is a collection of essays contesting Francesco De Sanctis' unitary perspective on the development of

Italian literature Italian literature is written in the Italian language, particularly within Italy. It may also refer to literature written by Italian people, Italians or in Languages of Italy, other languages spoken in Italy, often languages that are closely re ...

and pointing out instead how local influences shaped the production of major Italian authors.

Awards and honours

*Member of

Accademia dei Lincei The Accademia dei Lincei (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed", but anglicised as the Lincean Academy) is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rom ...

, from 1964 *Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

, from 1972 *

Feltrinelli Prize The Feltrinelli Prize (from the Italian "Premio Feltrinelli", also known as "International Feltrinelli Prize" or "Antonio Feltrinelli Prize") is an award for achievement in the arts, music, literature, history, philosophy, medicine, and physical and ...

, 1982 *

Viareggio Prize The Viareggio Prize ( it, Premio Viareggio, italic=no or ) is an Italian literary prize, first awarded in 1930. Named after the Tuscan city of Viareggio, it was conceived by three friends, , Carlo Salsa and Leonida Rèpaci, to rival the Milanese ...

, 1989, for the essay ''Appunti sui moderni. Foscolo, Leopardi, Manzoni e altri''

References

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20081005134516/http://www.letteratura.it/dionisotti/ Italian essayists Italian male essayists Italian literary critics Italian philologists Writers from Turin 1908 births 1998 deaths 20th-century Italian non-fiction writers 20th-century Italian male writers Fellows of the British Academy Italian male non-fiction writers 20th-century essayists Academics of Bedford College, London 20th-century philologists Italian emigrants to the United Kingdom {{Italy-writer-stub