Eugenio Montale (; 12 October 1896 – 12 September 1981) was an Italian poet, prose writer, editor and translator, and recipient of the 1975

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

Life and works

Early years

Montale was born in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

. His family were chemical products traders (his father supplied

Italo Svevo Aron Hector Schmitz (19 December 186113 September 1928), better known by the pseudonym Italo Svevo (), was an Italian writer, businessman, novelist, playwright, and short story writer. A close friend of Irish novelist and poet James Joyce, Svevo ...

's firm). The poet's niece, Bianca Montale, in her ''Cronaca famigliare'' ("Family Chronicle") of 1986 portrays the family's common characteristics as "nervous fragility, shyness, concision in speaking, a tendency to see the worst in every event, a certain sense of humour". Montale was the youngest of six sons. He recalled:

We were a large family. My brothers went to the ''scagno'' office" in Genoese My only sister had a university education, but I had no such opportunity. In many families the unspoken arrangement existed that the youngest was released from the task of keeping up the family name.

In 1915 Montale worked as an accountant, but was left free to follow his literary passion, frequenting the city's libraries and attending his sister Marianna's private philosophy lessons. He also studied opera singing with the

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

Ernesto Sivori. Montale was largely self-taught. Growing up, his imagination was caught by several writers, including

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

, and by the study of foreign languages (especially English), as well as the landscapes of the Levante ("Eastern")

Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...

, where he spent holidays with his family. During

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 ...

, as a member of the Military Academy of

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

, Montale asked to be sent to the front. After brief war experience as an infantry officer in

Vallarsa Vallarsa (Cimbrian: ''Brandtal'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in Trentino in the northern Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about south of Trento. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,409 and an area of .All dem ...

and the

Puster Valley The Puster Valley ( it, Val Pusteria ; german: Pustertal, ) is one of the largest longitudinal valleys in the Alps that runs in an east-west direction between Lienz in East Tyrol, Austria, and Mühlbach near Brixen in South Tyrol, Italy. The Sou ...

, he returned home in 1920.

Poetic works

Montale wrote more than ten anthologies of short lyrics, a journal of poetry translation, plus several books of prose translations, two books of literary criticism, and one of fantasy prose. Alongside his imaginative work he was a constant contributor to Italy's most important newspaper, the

Corriere della Sera The ''Corriere della Sera'' (; en, "Evening Courier") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average daily circulation of 410,242 copies in December 2015. First published on 5 March 1876, ''Corriere della Sera'' is one of It ...

, for which he wrote a huge number of articles on literature, music, and art. He also wrote a foreword to Dante's "The Divine Comedy", in which he mentions the credibility of Dante, and his insight and unbiased imagination. In 1925 he was a signatory to the

Manifesto of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals The Manifesto of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals, written by Benedetto Croce in response to the Manifesto of the Fascist Intellectuals by Giovanni Gentile, sanctioned the irreconcilable split between the philosopher and the Fascist government of B ...

. Montale's own politics inclined toward the liberalism of

Piero Gobetti Piero Gobetti (; 19 June 1901, Turin – 15 February 1926, Neuilly-sur-Seine) was an Italian journalist, intellectual and radical liberal and anti-fascist. He was an exceptionally active campaigner and critic in the crisis years in Italy after ...

and

Benedetto Croce Benedetto Croce (; 25 February 1866 – 20 November 1952) was an Italian idealist philosopher, historian, and politician, who wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, historiography and aesthetics. In most regards, Croce was a lib ...

. He contributed to Gobetti's literary magazine ''

Il Baretti ''Il Baretti'' was an Italian language monthly literary magazine which was one of the publications launched and edited by Piero Gobetti. The magazine was published in Turin in the period between 1924 and 1928. The title was a reference to Giusepp ...

''. Montale's work, especially his first poetry collection '' Ossi di seppia'' ("Cuttlefish Bones"), which appeared in 1925, shows him as an antifascist who felt detached from contemporary life and found solace and refuge in the solitude of nature. A famous poem of ''Ossi di seppia'' ends with these two verses: Codesto solo oggi possiamo dirti, ciò che ''non'' siamo, ciò che ''non'' vogliamo. Translated to: Only this is what we can tell you today, that which we are ''not'', that which we do ''not'' want. The Mediterranean landscape of Montale's native Liguria was a strong presence in these early poems: they gave him a sort of "personal seclusion" in the face of the depressing events around him. These poems emphasise his personal solitude and empathy with "little" and "insignificant" things, or with the horizon, the sea. According to Montale, nature is "rough, scanty, dazzling". In a world filled with defeat and despair, nature alone seemed to possess dignity – the same as the reader experiences in reading his poems.

Anticonformism of the new poetry

Montale moved to

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

in 1927 to work as editor for the publisher Bemporad. Florence was the cradle of Italian poetry of that age, with works like the ''Canti orfici'' by

Dino Campana Dino Campana (20 August 1885 – 1 March 1932) was an Italian visionary poet. His fame rests on his only published book of poetry, the ''Canti Orfici'' ("Orphic Songs"), as well as his wild and erratic personality, including his ill-fated love af ...

(1914) and the first lyrics by

Ungaretti Giuseppe Ungaretti (; 8 February 1888 – 2 June 1970) was an Italian modernist poet, journalist, essayist, critic, academic, and recipient of the inaugural 1970 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. A leading representative of the experim ...

for the review ''

Lacerba ''Lacerba'' was an Italian literary journal based in Florence closely associated with the Futurist movement. It published many Futurist manifestos by Filippo Marinetti, Antonio Sant'Elia, and others. The magazine was started as a fortnightly ...

''. Other poets like

Umberto Saba Umberto Saba (9 March 1883 – 26 August 1957) was an Italian poet and novelist, born Umberto Poli in the cosmopolitan Mediterranean port of Trieste when it was the fourth largest city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Poli assumed the pen name ...

and

Vincenzo Cardarelli Vincenzo Cardarelli, pseudonym of Nazareno Caldarelli (1 May 1887 – 18 June 1959) was an Italian poet and journalist. Cardarelli was born in Corneto, Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , populati ...

had been highly praised. In 1929 Montale was asked to be chairman of the

Gabinetto Vieusseux The Gabinetto Scientifico Letterario G. P. Vieusseux, founded in 1819 by Giovan Pietro Vieusseux, a Protestant merchant from Geneva, is a library in Florence, Italy. It played a vital role in linking the culture of Italy with that of other Eu ...

Library, a post from which he was expelled in 1938 by the fascist government. By this time Montale's poetry was a reaction against the literary style of the fascist regime. He collaborated with the magazine '' Solaria'', and (starting in 1927) frequented the literary café Le Giubbe Rosse ("Red Jackets") on the Piazza Vittoria (now Piazza della Repubblica). Visiting the café often several times a day, he became a central figure among a group of writers there, including

Carlo Emilio Gadda Carlo Emilio Gadda (; November 14, 1893 – May 21, 1973) was an Italian writer and poet. He belongs to the tradition of the language innovators, writers that played with the somewhat stiff standard pre-war Italian language, and added elements o ...

, Arturo Loria and

Elio Vittorini Elio Vittorini (; 23 July 1908 – 12 February 1966) was an Italian writer and novelist. He was a contemporary of Cesare Pavese and an influential voice in the modernist school of novel writing. His best-known work is the anti-fascist novel '' Co ...

(all founders of the magazine).Eugenio Montale, ''Collected Poems 1920–1954'', translated and edited by Jonathan Galassi, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998, He wrote for almost all the important literary magazines of the time. Though hindered by financial problems and the literary and social conformism imposed by the authorities, in Florence Montale published his finest anthology, '' Le occasioni'' ("Occasions", 1939). From 1933 to 1938 he had a love relationship with

Irma Brandeis Irma Brandeis (1905–1990) was an American scholar of Dante Alighieri. Her work ''The Ladder of Vision'' was acclaimed as a breakthrough in Dantean studies upon its publication in the 1960s. Brandeis graduated from Barnard College in 1926. In he ...

, a Jewish-American scholar of Dante who occasionally visited Italy for short periods. After falling in love with Brandeis, Montale represented her as a

mediatrix Mediatrix is a title given to Mary, mother of Jesus in Christianity. It refers to the intercessory role of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a mediator in the salvific redemption by her son Jesus Christ and that he bestows graces through her. Mediatrix i ...

figure like Dante's Beatrice. ''Le occasioni'' contains numerous allusions to Brandeis, here called Clizia (a senhal). Franco Fortini judged Montale's ''Ossi di seppia'' and ''Le occasioni'' the high-water mark of 20th century

Italian poetry Italian poetry is a category of Italian literature. Italian poetry has its origins in the thirteenth century and has heavily influenced the poetic traditions of many European languages, including that of English. Features * Italian prosody is a ...

T.S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National B ...

, who shared Montale's admiration for Dante, was an important influence on his poetry at this time; in fact, the new poems of Eliot were shown to Montale by

Mario Praz Mario Praz (; September 6, 1896, Rome – March 23, 1982, Rome) was an Italian-born critic of art and literature, and a scholar of English literature. His best-known book, ''The Romantic Agony'' (1933), was a comprehensive survey of the decadent ...

, then teaching in Manchester. The concept of the objective correlative used by Montale in his poetry, was probably influenced by T. S. Eliot. In 1948, for Eliot's sixtieth birthday, Montale contributed a celebratory essay entitled "Eliot and Ourselves" to a collection published to mark the occasion.

Disharmony with the world

From 1948 to his death, Montale lived in Milan. After the war, he was a member of the liberal

Partito d'Azione The Action Party ( it, Partito d'Azione, PdA) was a liberal-socialist political party in Italy. The party was anti-fascist and republican. Its prominent leaders were Carlo Rosselli, Ferruccio Parri, Emilio Lussu and Ugo La Malfa. Other prominen ...

. As a contributor to the ''Corriere della Sera'' he was music editor and also reported from abroad, including

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, where he went as a reporter to follow

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

's visit there. His works as a journalist are collected in ''Fuori di casa'' ("Out of Home", 1969). '' La bufera e altro'' ("The Storm and Other Things") was published in 1956 and marks the end of Montale's most acclaimed poetry. Here his figure Clizia is joined by La Volpe ("the Fox"), based on the young poet

Maria Luisa Spaziani Maria Luisa Spaziani (21 June 1923 – 30 June 2014) was an Italian poet. Biography Spaziani was born in Turin. At nineteen, she founded the review ''Il dado'', working with collaborators such as Vasco Pratolini, Sandro Penna and Vincen ...

with whom Montale had an affair during the 1950s. However, this volume also features Clizia, treated in a variety of poems as a kind of bird-goddess who defies Hitler. These are some of his greatest poems. His later works are '' Xenia'' (1966), ''Satura'' (1971) and '' Diario del '71 e del '72'' (1973). Montale's later poetry is wry and ironic, musing on the critical reaction to his earlier work and on the constantly changing world around him. ''Satura'' contains a poignant elegy to his wife Drusilla Tanzi. He also wrote a series of poignant poems about Clizia shortly before his death. Montale's fame at that point had extended throughout the world. He had received honorary degrees from the Universities of Milan (1961),

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

(1967),

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

(1974), and had been named

Senator-for-Life A senator for life is a member of the senate or equivalent upper chamber of a legislature who has life tenure. , six Italian senators out of 206, two out of the 41 Burundian senators, one Congolese senator out of 109, and all members of the Br ...

in the Italian Senate. In 1973 he was awarded the Golden Wreath of the Struga Poetry Evenings in

Struga Struga ( mk, Струга , sq, Strugë) is a town and popular tourist destination situated in the south-western region of North Macedonia, lying on the shore of Lake Ohrid. The town of Struga is the seat of Struga Municipality. Name The nam ...

SR Macedonia The Socialist Republic of Macedonia ( mk, Социјалистичка Република Македонија, Socijalistička Republika Makedonija), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia or Yugoslav Macedonia, was ...

. In 1975 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. Montale died in Milan in 1981. In 1996, a work appeared called '' Posthumous Diary'' (''Diario postumo'') that purported to have been 'compiled' by Montale before his death, with the help of the young poet Annalisa Cima; the critic Dante Isella thinks that this work is not authentic.Article of G. Raboni on Corriere della Sera
(archiviostorico.corriere.it)

Joseph Brodsky Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (; russian: link=no, Иосиф Александрович Бродский ; 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian and American poet and essayist. Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), USSR in 1940, ...

dedicated his essay "In the Shadow of Dante" to Eugenio Montale's lyric poetry.

List of works

Each year links to its corresponding "

ear An ear is the organ that enables hearing and, in mammals, body balance using the vestibular system. In mammals, the ear is usually described as having three parts—the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear consists of ...

in literature" or "

in poetry" article: * 1925: ''Ossi di seppia'' ("Cuttlefish Bones"), first edition; second edition, 1928, with six new poems and an introduction by Alfredo Gargiulo; third edition, 1931, Lanciano: Carabba * 1932: ''La casa dei doganieri e altre poesie'', a chapbook of five poems published in association with the award of the Premio del Antico Fattore to Montale; Florence: Vallecchi * 1939: ''Le occasioni'' ("The Occasions"), Turin: Einaudi * 1943: ''Finisterre'', a chapbook of poetry, smuggled into Switzerland by

Gianfranco Contini Gianfranco Contini (4 January 1912 – 1 February 1990) was an Italian academic and philologist. He studied at the Collegio Mellerio Rosmini in Domodossola, then at the University of Pavia, where he graduated in 1933. Later, he studied also ...

; Lugano: the Collana di Lugano (24 June); second edition, 1945, Florence: Barbèra * 1948: ''Quaderno di traduzioni'', translations, Milan: Edizioni della Meridiana * 1948: ''La fiera letteraria'' poetry criticism * 1956: ''La bufera e altro'' ("The Storm and Other Things"), a first edition of 1,000 copies, Venice: Neri Pozza; second, larger edition published in 1957, Milan: Arnaldo Mondadore Editore * 1956: ''Farfalla di Dinard'', stories, a private edition * 1962: ''Satura'', poetry, published in a private edition, Verona: Oficina Bodoni * 1962: ''Accordi e pastelli'' ("Agreements and Pastels"), Milan: Scheiwiller (May) * 1966: ''Il colpevole'' * 1966: ''Auto da fé: Cronache in due tempi'', cultural criticism, Milan: Il Saggiatore * 1966: ''Xenia'', poems in memory of Mosca, first published in a private edition of 50 * 1969: ''Fuori di casa'', collected travel writing * 1971: ''Satura (1962–1970)'' (January) * 1971: ''La poesia non esiste'', prose; Milan: Scheiwiller (February) * 1973: ''Diario del '71 e del '72'', Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore (a private edition of 100 copies was published in 1971) * 1973: ''Trentadue variazioni'', an edition of 250 copies, Milan: Giorgio Lucini * 1977: ''Quaderno di quattro anni'', Milan: Mondadori * 1977: ''Tutte le poesie'', Milan: Mondadori * 1980: ''L'opera in versi'', the Bettarini-Contini edition; published in 1981 as ''Altri verse e poesie disperse'', publisher: Mondadori ;Translated in Montale's lifetime * 1966: ''Ossi di seppia, Le occasioni'', and ''La bufera e altro'', translated by

Patrice Angelini Patrice is a given name meaning ''noble'' or ''patrician'', related to the names Patrick and Patricia. In English, Patrice is often a feminine first name. In French, it is used as a masculine first name. Popularity In the United States, the popu ...

into French; Paris: Gallimard * 1978: ''The Storm & Other Poems'', translated by Charles Wright into English (Oberlin College Press), ;Posthumous * 1981: ''Prime alla Scala'', music criticism, edited by Gianfranca Lavezzi; Milan: Mondadori * 1981: ''Lettere a Quasimodo'', edited by Sebastiano Grasso; publisher: Bompiani * 1982: ''The Second Life of Art: Selected Essays'', trans. Jonathan Galassi (Ecco), * 1983: ''Quaderno genovese'', edited by Laura Barile; a journal from 1917, first published this year; Milan: Mondadori * 1987: Trans.

William Arrowsmith William Ayres Arrowsmith (April 13, 1924 – February 21, 1992) was an American classicist, academic, and translator. Life Born in Orange, New Jersey, the son of Walter Weed Arrowsmith and Dorothy (Ayres) Arrowsmith, William grew up in Wellesle ...

, ''The Occasions'' (Norton, New York & London). * 1990: ''The Coastguard’s House / La casa dei doganieri : Selected Poems'' (

Bloodaxe Books Bloodaxe Books is a British publishing house specializing in poetry. History Bloodaxe Books was founded in 1978 in Newcastle upon Tyne by Neil Astley, who is still editor and managing director. Bloodaxe moved its editorial office to Northumbe ...

, Newcastle-upon-Tyne). * 1991: ''Tutte le poesie'', edited by Giorgio Zampa. Jonathan Galassi calls this book the "most comprehensive edition of Montale's poems". * 1996: '' Diario postumo: 66 poesie e altre'', edited by Annalisa Cima; Milan: Mondadori * 1996: ''Il secondo mestiere: Arte, musica, società'' and ''Il secondo mestierre: Prose 1929–1979'', a two-volume edition including all of Montale's published writings; edited by Giorgio Zampa; Milan: Mondadori * 1998: ''Satura : 1962-1970'' / trans. with notes, by

(New York, Norton). * 1999: ''Collected Poems'', trans. Jonathan Galassi (Carcanet) (

Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize is an annual literary prize for any book-length translation into English from any other living European language. The first prize was awarded in 1999. The prize is funded by and named in honour of Lord Weidenfe ...

) * 2004: ''Selected Poems'', trans. Jonathan Galassi, Charles Wright, & David Young (Oberlin College Press), * 2016: ''Xenia'' (

Arc Publications Arc Publications, also known as Arc, is an independent publishing house in the UK, publishing contemporary poetry from new and established writers from the UK and abroad, specialising in the work of international poets writing in English and the ...

). pbk: ; hbk: ; e-book: . Bilingual version, translated by

Mario Petrucci Mario Petrucci (born 1958) is a poet, literary translator, educator and broadcaster. He was born in Lambeth, London and trained as a physicist at Selwyn College in the University of Cambridge and later completed a PhD in vacuum crystal growth at ...

, winner of 2016 PEN Translates Award, shortlisted for 2018

John Florio Prize The John Florio Prize for Italian translation is awarded by the Society of Authors, with the co-sponsorship of the Italian Cultural Institute and Arts Council England. Named after the Tudor Anglo-Italian writer-translator John Florio, the prize wa ...

. * 2017: ''Montale's Essential: The Poems of Eugenio Montale in English'', translated by Alessandro Baruffi (Literary Joint Press),

Notes

External links

* * including the Nobel Lecture December 12, 1975 ''Is Poetry Still Possible?'' * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Montale, Eugenio 1896 births 1981 deaths Writers from Genoa Action Party (Italy) politicians Italian Liberal Party politicians Italian Republican Party politicians Italian life senators Politicians from Genoa Italian male poets English–Italian translators Translators of John Steinbeck Translators of T. S. Eliot Chapbook writers 20th-century Italian poets Manifesto of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals Italian anti-fascists Italian military personnel of World War I Italian Nobel laureates Nobel laureates in Literature Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath laureates 20th-century Italian translators