Giuseppe Antonio Borgese (12 November 1882 – 4 December 1952) was an Italian

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

Germanist German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

and academic naturalized American.

Biography

During the academic year 1899-1900, under pressure from his father who wanted him a lawyer, enrolled in the Faculty of Law of the

University of Palermo The University of Palermo ( it, Università degli Studi di Palermo) is a university located in Palermo, Italy, and founded in 1806. It is organized in 12 Faculties. History The University of Palermo was officially founded in 1806, although its ...

, but already in 1900 he 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 ...

where, at the Institute of Higher Studies, he follows the courses of Girolamo Vitelli,

Pio Rajna Pio Rajna (8 July 1847 – 25 November 1930) was an Italian philologist, literary critic, and senator. He was known for his work on Italian chivalric literature and French ''chansons de geste''. Rajna was appointed Knight of the Order of the Crown ...

Pasquale Villari Pasquale Villari (3 October 1827 – 11 December 1917) was an Italian historian and politician. Early life and publications Villari was born in Naples and took part in the risings of 1848 there against the Bourbons and subsequently fled to Floren ...

, Achille Coen and Guido Mazzoni. From the marriage with the writer Maria Freschi two children were born Leonardo (1904) and Giovanna (1911). Obtained a divorce in America he married Elisabeth Mann, daughter of Thomas Mann, and from this marriage two other daughters Angelica and Dominica were born. Borgese was born in

Polizzi Generosa Polizzi Generosa ( Sicilian: ''Pulizzi'') is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Palermo on the island of Sicily, southern Italy. The town sits in the hills at above sea level. History The site of Polizzi shows signs of human o ...

, near

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

(

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

). He graduated in literature at the University of Florence in 1903. In his early years he founded several literary reviews, including the Dannunzian ''

Hermes Hermes (; grc-gre, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orato ...

'' (1904), and worked for newspapers such as ''

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 ...

'', ''

La Stampa ''La Stampa'' (meaning ''The Press'' in English) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin, Italy. It is distributed in Italy and other European nations. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. History and profile The paper was fou ...

'' and ''

Il Mattino ''Il Mattino'' (meaning ''The Morning'' in English) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Naples, Italy. History and profile ''Il Mattino'' was first published on 16 March 1892 by the journalists Edoardo Scarfoglio and Matilde Serao. The pa ...

''. He also contributed to the ''

Leonardo Leonardo is a masculine given name, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese equivalent of the English, German, and Dutch name, Leonard Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English masculine given name and a surname. The given name and surname originate ...

'' magazine. He taught German literature and

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...

at the universities of

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 ...

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 ...

and

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

until 1931 when, due to his opposition of the

Fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

regime, he was forced to move to the United States. Here he declared himself a political exile and became an American citizen in 1938. When the Italian-American antifascist

Mazzini Society The Mazzini Society was an antifascist political association, formed on a democratic and republican basis, situating itself within the tradition of the Risorgimento, and created in the United States by Italian-American immigrants in the late 1930s. ...

was founded in 1939, Borgese joined it. He was the William Allan Neilson Professor at Smith College from 1932 to 1935. He was professor in the Universities of Chicago and California until the end of World War II, making friends with

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...

and marrying his youngest daughter Elisabeth with whom he had two daughters, Angelica and Dominica. He returned to Milan in 1945. After the war, Giuseppe and his wife were involved with the writing of a draft constitution for a federal

world government World government is the concept of a single political authority with jurisdiction over all humanity. It is conceived in a variety of forms, from tyrannical to democratic, which reflects its wide array of proponents and detractors. A world gove ...

. Borgese died in

Fiesole Fiesole () is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a scenic height above Florence, 5 km (3 miles) northeast of that city. It has structures dating to Etruscan and Roman times. Sin ...

in 1952.

Works

Poetry * ''La canzone paziente'' (1910) * ''Le Poesie'' (1922) * ''Poesie 1922-1952'' (1952) Novels * '' Rubè'' (1921) * ''I vivi e i morti'' (1923) Short stories * ''La città sconosciuta'' (1925) * ''La tragedia di Mayerling'' (1925) * ''Le belle'' (1927) * ''Il sole non è tramontato'' (1929) * ''Tempesta nel nulla'' (1931) * ''Il pellegrino appassionato'' (1933) * ''La Siracusana'' (1950) * ''Le novelle'' (2 volumes, 1950) Theatre * ''L'Arciduca'' (1924) * ''Lazzaro'' (1925) Literature and aesthetics * ''Gabriele D'Annunzio'' (1909) *''Mefistofele. Con un discorso sulla personalità di Goethe'' (1911) *''La vita e il libro'' (3 volumes, 1910-1913) *''Studi di letterature moderne'' (1915) *''Resurrezione'' (1922) *''Tempo di edificare'' (1923) *''Ottocento europeo'' (1927) *''Il senso della letteratura italiana'' (1931) *''Poetica dell'unità. Cinque saggi'' (1934) *''Problemi di estetica e storia della critica'' (1952) Journalism and essays *''La nuova Germania'' (1909) *''Italia e Germania'' (1915) *''Guerra di redenzione'' (1915) *''La guerra delle idee'' (1916) *''L'Italia e la nuova alleanza'' (1937) *''L'Alto Adige contro l'Italia'' (1921)
''Goliath, the March of Fascism''
(1937) *''Disegno preliminare di costituzione mondiale'' (1949) Voyages *''Autunno a Costantinopoli'' (1929) *''Giro lungo per la primavera'' (1930) *''Escursioni in terre nuove'' (1931) *''Atlante americano'' (1936)

Biography

Works

References

Further reading