Ettore Lo Gatto (20 May 1890 – 16 March 1983) was an Italian linguist, literary historian, translator, critic and academic.

Life and career

Born in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, Lo Gatto wrote his first novel, ''I misteri della Siberia'', aged 13 years old.Emanuela Sgambati (2005).
Lo Gatto, Ettore
. '' Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'', Volume 65.

Treccani The ''Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere e Arti'' (Italian for "Italian Encyclopedia of Science, Letters, and Arts"), best known as ''Treccani'' for its developer Giovanni Treccani or ''Enciclopedia Italiana'', is an Italian-language en ...

. After graduating in law at the University of Naples Federico II, he followed some philosophy courses and then became interested in German studies, holding academic trips to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

Bayreuth Bayreuth (, ; bar, Bareid) is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital of U ...

and Zurich and publishing translations of works by

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

and Hans Sachs. During the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Lo Gatto was taken prisoner and interned in a camp in

Sigmundsherberg Sigmundsherberg is a municipality in the district of Horn in Lower Austria, Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a ...

, where he came into contact with Russian culture. After the war he knew a Russian teacher, Zoja Matveevna, who later became his wife and his closer collaborator. Starting from 1919 he started an intense activity of translation, cultural promotion and research in the field of Russian literature. In 1920 he founded the academic journal ''Russia'', and one year later he founded and was the first secretary of the Istituto per l'Europa orientale (IPEO, Institute for Eastern Europe), and founded and directed the journal ''Europa orientale'' ("Eastern Europe"). Among Lo Gatto's major works, ''Poesia russa della rivoluzione'' ("Russian Poetry of the Revolution", 1923), ''Storia della letteratura russa'' ("History of Russian literature", seven volumes published between 1928 and 1944), ''Gli artisti italiani in Russia'' ("Italian artists in Russia", three volumes, 1934–1943), ''Storia del teatro russo'' ("History of Russian Theatre", 1952) ''Storia della letteratura russa contemporanea'' ("History of Contemporary Russian Literature", 1958–1968) and ''Storia della letteratura russa moderna'' ("History of Modern Russian Literature", 1960–1968). Lo Gatto also had an important academic career, first as professor of Slavic literature in his alma mater, professor of Slavic philology at

University of Padua The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from B ...

, and later as professor of Russian language and literature for about 25 years at the Sapienza University of Rome. He was also visiting professor of Italian literature at

Charles University ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , undergr ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

between 1936 and 1939. In 1960 Lo Gatto won the

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 ...

for criticism with ''Pushkin, storia di un poeta e del suo eroe'' ("

Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

, Story of a Poet and his Hero"). He was an Academician of the Lincei from 1972 till his death in 1983.

References

External links

Ettore Lo Gatto
at Open Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Lo Gatto, Ettore 1890 births 1983 deaths People from Naples 20th-century Italian writers 20th-century Italian essayists 20th-century Italian translators University of Naples Federico II alumni Academic staff of the University of Padua Academic staff of the University of Naples Federico II Academic staff of the Sapienza University of Rome Viareggio Prize winners