HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Giovanni Raboni (22 January 1932 – 16 September 2004) was an Italian
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 wri ...
,
translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...
and literary critic.


Biography

Raboni was born in
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 ...
, the second son of Giuseppe, a clerk at Milan commune, and Matilde Sommariva. In October 1942, after the first bombings of Milan, the family moved to Sant'Ambrogio Olona, near
Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...
, where Raboni concluded his primary and intermediate school. His father's love for French and Russian classics made him read and appreciate
Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel ''In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous Eng ...
,
Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...
, Dostoevskij and when his cousin Giandomenico Guarino, knowledgeable about contemporary literature and poetry, found shelter in Sant'Ambrogio too after 8 September 1943 armistice, Raboni met the works by Piovene, Buzzati,
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 experi ...
,
Quasimodo Quasimodo (from Quasimodo Sunday) is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the novel ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (1831) by Victor Hugo. Quasimodo was born with a hunchback and feared by the townspeople as a sort of monster, but ...
, Cardarelli, and
Montale Montale is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pistoia in the Italian region Tuscany, located about northwest of Florence and about east of Pistoia. Montale borders the following municipalities: Agliana, Cantagallo, Montemurlo, P ...
about whom he said: ''I know I owe much to Montale, I realise this upon rereading him, even if I did not love him as much as Eliot and Sereni, but he affected me a lot... especially his expression of the limits, of the fact that we cannot demand too much in 20th century of poetry as a source of truth''. Having completed law studies, he was a lawyer for some years, but at the end of the 1950s he felt more attracted to literature and poetry. He met in Milan
Vittorio Sereni Vittorio Sereni (27 July 1913 – 10 February 1983) was an Italian poet, author, editor and translator. His poetry frequently addressed the themes of 20th-century Italian history, such as Fascism, Italy's military defeat in World War II, and its ...
, Antonio Porta,
Giovanni Testori Giovanni Testori (Novate Milanese, 12 May 1923 – Milan, 16 March 1993) was an Italian writer, journalist, poet, art and literary critic, dramatist, screenplay writer, theatrical director and painter. Biography Childhood and youth “It is ...
,
Giorgio Strehler Giorgio Strehler (; ; 14 August 1921 – 25 December 1997) was an actor, Italian opera and theatre director. Biography Strehler was born in Barcola, Trieste; His father, Bruno Strehler, was a native of Trieste with family roots in Vienna and died ...
and began working for periodical and newspapers, at first in the editorial staff of '' Aut aut'', a magazine edited by Enzo Paci, then writing for Piergiorgio Bellocchio's '' Quaderni Piacentini'' and
Roberto Longhi Roberto Longhi (28 December 1890 – 3 June 1970) was an Italian academic, art historian, and curator. The main subjects of his studies were the painters Caravaggio and Piero della Francesca. Early life and career Longhi was born in December 18 ...
's ''
Paragone Paragone ( it, paragone, meaning ''comparison''), was a debate during the Italian Renaissance in which painting and sculpture (and to a degree, architecture) were each championed as forms of art superior and distinct to each other. While other ar ...
'' and finally for ''
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 I ...
'' for which worked several years. Raboni became was appreciated as both a literary critic and a translator of classic works: he translated in Italian some works by
Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...
, and by
Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of th ...
, ''
Les Fleurs du mal ''Les Fleurs du mal'' (; en, The Flowers of Evil, italic=yes) is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire. ''Les Fleurs du mal'' includes nearly all Baudelaire's poetry, written from 1840 until his death in August 1867. First publis ...
'' by
Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited fro ...
for Einaudi publishing house,
Jean Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditi ...
and
Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel ''In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous Eng ...
's ''
In Search of Lost Time ''In Search of Lost Time'' (french: À la recherche du temps perdu), first translated into English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'', and sometimes referred to in French as ''La Recherche'' (''The Search''), is a novel in seven volumes by French ...
'' in
Mondadori Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy. History The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In ...
's "I Meridiani" collection. In 1961 he published two short poetry collections, ''Il catalogo è questo'' and ''L'insalubrità dell'aria'', followed by ''Le case della Vetra'' in 1966, ''Cadenza d'inganno'' in 1975, ''Nel grave sogno'' in 1982 and, in 1988, the anthology ''A tanto caro sangue''. In the 1970s he began editing the poetry series "I quaderni della Fenice" for Guanda publishing house, acting as a kind of talent-scout for new poets. Milan (especially the memory of the old city, before the recent town plannings) is in the heart of his matters: In June 1971 he was one of the 800 intellectuals who signed, in
L'Espresso ''L'Espresso'' () is an Italian weekly news magazine. It is one of the two most prominent Italian weeklies; the other is ''Panorama''. Since 2022 it has been published by BFC Media. History and profile One of Italy's foremost newsmagazines, ''l ...
magazine, a manifesto against
Luigi Calabresi Luigi Calabresi (14 November 1937 – 17 May 1972) was an Italian Police officer in Milan assassinated by far-left terrorists. This was one of the most important murders during the historical period of social turmoil and political violence in I ...
, a police officer falsely suspected of having killed the anarchist Giuseppe Pinelli. In October he was among those who signed a "self-denunciation", to express solidarity with some journalists of ''
Lotta Continua Lotta Continua (LC; en, Continuous Struggle) was a far-left paramilitary organization in Italy. It was founded in autumn 1969 by a split in the student-worker movement of Turin, which had started militant activity at the universities and factor ...
'' newspaper, defending their strong anti-government positions. Among his literary critic essays are ''Poesia degli anni sessanta'' (Poetry of the 1960s) published in 1968, ''Quaderno in prosa'' in 1981. ''La fossa di Cherubino'' (1980) collects his proses. Raboni was interested in theater too: was in the directorial committee of
Piccolo Teatro di Milano The Piccolo Teatro di Milano (translation: "Little Theatre of the City of Milan") is a theatre in Milan, Italy. Founded in 1947, it is Italy's first permanent theatre, and a national "teatro stabile", or permanent repertory company, and is consid ...
and wrote several plays, such as ''Alcesti o la recita dell'esilio'' and ''Rappresentazione della croce'' (2000). His activity as a poet went on with ''Canzonette mortali'' (1987), ''Versi guerrieri e amorosi'' (1990), ''Ogni terzo pensiero'' (1993, with which he 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 Milanes ...
for poetry), ''Quare tristis'' (1998), and ''Barlumi di Storia'' (2002). Giovanni Raboni died of a heart attack in
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 ...
in 2004. He is buried at the Monumental Cemetery of Milan. His wife, poet Patrizia Valduga, wrote the afterword to his last poetry collection ''Ultimi versi'', published posthumously in 2006; one of his last poems is "Canzone del danno e della beffa" (''Song of the harm and the hoax''), also published posthumous on ''Corriere della Sera'' in 2004. Andrea Cortellessa, on an article of ''Manifesto'' in the days after his death, remembers the poet's “obsessive mournful compulsion on his last poetic verses”, with these significant lines from ''Quare tristis'': ''"Who dreams himself / alive with his own dead / maybe he doesn’t live also there /in his dream,/ and you must let him lie – not still /wake up, not until // out, in the light, remains that squeaky / burden, that blinding plate…" ''A. Cortellessa, ''G.Raboni, poeta di ombre…'' Manifesto, 2004
''(«Chi si sogna / vivo coi suoi morti forse non è / vivo che lì, nel sogno, e non bisogna / svegliarlo - non ancora, non finché // fuori, nella luce, c'è quella macina / che stride, quella lamiera che abbacina...»'' G. Raboni, ''Quare tristis'', Mondadori, Milan, 1998)


Notes and references


Bibliography

Poetry *''Il catalogo è questo: quindici poesie'', Lampugnani Nigri, con nota di Carlo Bertocchi, Milan, 1961 *''L'insalubrità dell'aria'', All'insegna del pesce d'oro, Vanni Scheiwiller, Milan, 1963 * ''Le case della Vetra'',
Mondadori Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy. History The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In ...
, Milan, 1966 *''Gesta romanorum: 20 poesie'', Lampugnani Nigri, Milan, 1967 *''Economia della paura'', All'insegna del pesce d'oro, Vanni Scheiwiller, Milan, 1971 *''Cadenza d'inganno'', Mondadori, Milan, 1975 *''Il più freddo anno di grazia'', San Marco dei Giustiniani, Genoa, 1978 *''Nel grave sogno'', Mondadori, Milan, 1982 *''Raboni, Manzoni'', Il ventaglio, Milan, 1985 *''Canzonette mortali'', Crocetti, Milan, 1987 *''A tanto caro sangue: Poesie 1953-1987'', Mondadori, Milan, 1988 *''Transeuropa'', Mondadori, Milan, 1988 *''Versi guerrieri e amorosi'', Einaudi, Turin, 1990 *''Un gatto più un gatto'', with illustrations by Nicoletta Costa, Mondadori, Milan, 1991 *''Ogni terzo pensiero'', Mondadori, Milan, 1993 *''Devozioni perverse'', Rizzoli, Milan, 1994 *''Nel libro della mente'', with seven etchings by Attilio Steffanoni, All'insegna del pesce d'oro, Vanni Scheiwiller, Milan, 1997 *''Quare tristis'', Mondadori, Milan, 1998 *''Rappresentazione della croce'', Garzanti, Milan, 1997, 20002 *''Tutte le poesie (1951–1998)'', Garzanti, Milan, 2000 *''Alcesti o la recita dell'esilio'', Garzanti, Milan, 2002 *''Barlumi di storia'', Mondadori, Milan, 2002 *''Ultimi versi'', afterword by Patrizia Valduga, posthumous, Garzanti, Milan, 2006 Essays *''Poesia degli anni sessanta'',
Editori Riuniti Editori Riuniti is an Italian publishing house based in Rome that publishes books and magazines on the history of socialism, socialist thought, physics and mathematics theory, and the history of Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans. History ...
, Rome, 1976 *''Poesia italiana contemporanea'', Sansoni, Florence, 1980 *''Quaderno in prosa'', Lampugnani Nigri, Milano, 1981 *''Baj. Idraulica'', with Gillo Dorfles, Skira, Edizioni d'arte, Milan, 2003 *''La poesia che si fa. Critica e storia del Novecento poetico italiano 1959-2004'', Garzanti, Milan, 2005 Prose *''La fossa di Cherubino'', Guanda, Milan, 1980


External links

* (partially in Italian)
Biography and some poems


{{DEFAULTSORT:Raboni, Giovanni 1932 births 2004 deaths Writers from Milan Italian male poets 20th-century Italian poets 20th-century Italian male writers