Massimo Bacigalupo - Festivaletteratura 2012

Massimo Bacigalupo (born 1947 in

Rapallo Rapallo ( , , ) is a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, located in the Liguria region of northern Italy. As of 2017 it had 29,778 inhabitants. It lies on the Ligurian Sea coast, on the Tigullio Gulf, between Portofino and Chiavar ...

, Italy) is an experimental filmmaker, scholar, and translator of poetry, an essayist and literary critic. He was a founding member of the Cooperative of Independent Filmmakers in Rome. As a filmmaker of the Italian Independent Cinema (Cinema Indipendente Italiano), he was influenced by the New American Cinema. Bacigalupo is also a scholar, specializing in

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

, T. S. Eliot,

Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Herman Melville Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American people, American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his bes ...

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massach ...

, and other American, English and Irish writers, whom he has edited and translated. From 1990 to 2007 he was Professor of American Literature at the University of Genoa. He is a member of the Ligurian Academy of Sciences and Letters, Genoa.

Biography

Bacigalupo grew up in Rapallo, the son of Giuseppe Bacigalupo and Frieda Bacigalupo (née Natali). His parents’ house was a center of cultural life in Rapallo. Writers, poets and composers like

Robert Lowell Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (; March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the ''Mayflower''. His family, past and present, were important subjects i ...

, Czeslaw Milosz,

, and

Isaiah Berlin Sir Isaiah Berlin (6 June 1909 – 5 November 1997) was a Russian-British social and political theorist, philosopher, and historian of ideas. Although he became increasingly averse to writing for publication, his improvised lectures and talks ...

met there. Giuseppe Bacigalupo was Pound's doctor. Massimo Bacigalupo often encountered Ezra Pound as an adolescent and young man. Knowing Pound at a young age furthered his contacts and later literary exchange with

Eva Hesse Eva Hesse (January 11, 1936 – May 29, 1970) was a German-born American sculptor known for her pioneering work in materials such as latex, fiberglass, and plastics. She is one of the artists who ushered in the postminimal art movement in the 196 ...

Olga Rudge Olga Rudge (April 13, 1895 – March 15, 1996) was an American-born concert violinist, now mainly remembered as the long-time mistress of the poet Ezra Pound, by whom she had a daughter, Mary. A gifted concert violinist of international repu ...

Dorothy Shakespear Dorothy Shakespear (14 September 1886 – 8 December 1973) was an English artist. She was the daughter of novelist Olivia Shakespear and the wife of American poet Ezra Pound. One of a small number of women vorticist painters, her art work was p ...

, Pound’s daughter Mary de Rachewiltz,

Donald Davie Donald Alfred Davie, FBA (17 July 1922 – 18 September 1995) was an English Movement poet, and literary critic. His poems in general are philosophical and abstract, but often evoke various landscapes. Biography Davie was born in Barnsley, ...

James Laughlin James Laughlin (October 30, 1914 – November 12, 1997) was an American poet and literary book publisher who founded New Directions Publishing. Early life He was born in Pittsburgh, the son of Henry Hughart and Marjory Rea Laughlin. Laughlin ...

and others.

Work

Poetry

In Genoa, Bacigalupo helped to initiate the International Poetry Festival in the late 1970s when this event was known as "Poetry in public" (Poesia in pubblico). At the time, Bacigalupo motivated poets

Denise Levertov Priscilla Denise Levertov (24 October 1923 – 20 December 1997) was a British-born naturalised American poet. She was a recipient of the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry. Early life and influences Levertov was born and grew up in Ilford, Ess ...

and

Adrian Mitchell Adrian Mitchell FRSL (24 October 1932 – 20 December 2008) was an English poet, novelist and playwright. A former journalist, he became a noted figure on the British Left. For almost half a century he was the foremost poet of the country's Cam ...

to come to Genoa, . Bacigalupo is still involved in the Genoa poetry festival.

Film

Bacigalupo was a founding member of the Cooperative of Independent Filmmakers in Rome. As a filmmaker of the Italian Independent Cinema (Cinema Indipendente Italiano), he was influenced by the New American Cinema. His films have been screened and acquired by the Beaubourg Museum, Paris; the Tate Gallery, London; the Cinémathèque Nationale du Belgique; the Vienna Filmmuseum; the

Cineteca Nazionale Cineteca Nazionale is a film archive located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1949. By law it manages the so-called legal deposit, with the task of collecting, preserving and disseminating the productions of Italian cinema. It is the only Italian ...

, Rome, Italy; Anthology Film Archives, New York; Marlborough Gallery, London, and the

Kunsthalle Düsseldorf Kunsthalle Düsseldorf is an exhibition hall for contemporary art in Düsseldorf. Building The present art centre was built in 1967 in Brutalist architecture by the architects Konrad Beckmann and Brockes. They used commercially available precas ...

."Bacigalupo, Massimo Andrea", in: Who’s Who in the World, 10th ed., 1991-1992. Wilmette Illinois (Marquis Who's Who, Macmillan Directory Division ) 1990, p.49. He made his debut in short films with the 1966 ''Quasi una tangente'', which received first prize at the Festival of Montecatini. There followed a series of short films, such as ''60 metri per il 31 marzo'' (1968), ''The last summer'' (1969), ''Migrazione'' (1970). In these films, experimentation with a stream of consciousness approach gave rise to visual phantasmagoria, sometimes inspired by travels and encounters with other cultures (such as the Afghan and Indian or the North American). Bacigalupo was also actively involved in a so-called "little mag" (''Touch'', published in Philadelphia, PA and Bochum, Germany). As co-editor of this magazine, Steven Diamant convinced

Stan Brakhage James Stanley Brakhage ( ; January 14, 1933 – March 9, 2003) was an American filmmaker. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th-century experimental film. Over the course of five decades, Brakhage created a large ...

, P. Adams Sitney,

Ken Kelman Ken or KEN may refer to: Entertainment * ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer. * ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film. * ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine. * Ken Masters, a main character in t ...

, Bob Lamberton, and

George Stanley Colonel George Francis Gillman Stanley (July 6, 1907September 13, 2002) was a Canadian historian, author, soldier, teacher, public servant, and designer of the Canadian flag. Early life and education George F.G. Stanley was born in Calgary, Alb ...

that they should contribute poems or articles about film, which they did. Bacigalupo contributed a statement, "Toward Film," and motivated a number of Italian underground filmmakers to contribute texts. In 1970, Bacigalupo translated a programmatic statement of Brakhage, ''Metaphors of vision'' into Italian. It was an effort that makes the importance he attached to the work of this filmmaker apparent. In 1969, Bacigalupo participated in the 1st European Meeting of Independent Filmmakers in Munich, together with

Peter Kubelka Peter Kubelka (born 23 March 1934) is an Austrian filmmaker, architect, musician, curator and lecturer. His films, few in number, are known to be carefully edited and extremely brief. He is known for his 1966 '' Unsere Afrikareise'' (Our Trip to ...

, Kurt Kren,

Valie Export Valie Export (often stylized as 'VALIE EXPORT'; born 17 May 1940) is an avant-garde Austrian artist. She is best known for provocative public performances and expanded cinema work. Her artistic work also includes video installations, computer an ...

Gregory Markopoulos Gregory J. Markopoulos (March 12, 1928 – November 12, 1992) was an American experimental filmmaker. Biography Born in Toledo, Ohio in 1928 to Greek immigrant parents, Markopoulos began making 8 mm films at an early age. He attended USC Film Sc ...

, the Heins, Werner Nekes and Dore O. In addition to creating numerous films, Bacigalupo wrote pieces of film criticism on the underground cinema for such magazines as '' Filmcritica'', '' Bianco & Nero'', and the New York-based journal ''

Film Culture ''Film Culture'' was an American film magazine started by Adolfas Mekas and his brother Jonas Mekas in 1954. The publication's headquarters were in New York City. Best known for exploring the avant-garde cinema in depth, it also published artic ...

''. In 1973-75 Bacigalupo lived in New York. It was here that he completed the short film ''Warming Up,'' which was shown immediately after its completion at the Anthology Film Archives directed by

Jonas Mekas Jonas Mekas (; December 24, 1922 – January 23, 2019) was a Lithuanian-American filmmaker, poet, and artist who has been called "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema". Mekas' work has been exhibited in museums and at festivals worldwi ...

. He also shot another short film, ''Postcard from America'' (''Cartoline dall'America''). After 1975, Massimo Bacigalupo produced numerous videos documenting aspects of the work and life of various artist friends. In 2010, the 28th Turin Film Festival dedicated a retrospective to him and his work. Simultaneously, the Modern Art Museum of Turin, GAM, hosted the exhibition "Apparitions: Images and Texts from the Archive of Massimo Bacigalupo." In 2004 Paolo Brunatto, an experimental filmmaker, included Bacigalupo in a series of twelve portraits for television of fellow film artists, ''Schegge di Utopia''.

Criticism and scholarship

In the 1970s in New York City, he met poets like

Barbara Guest Barbara Guest, ''née'' Barbara Ann Pinson (September 6, 1920 – February 15, 2006), was an American poet and prose stylist. Guest first gained recognition as a member of the first generation New York School of poetry. Guest wrote more than ...

Ron Padgett Ron Padgett (born June 17, 1942, Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American poet, essayist, fiction writer, translator, and a member of the New York School. ''Great Balls of Fire'', Padgett's first full-length collection of poems, was published in 1969. He ...

, and Nick Piombino. He also pursued advanced studies at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in New York, writing a Ph.D. thesis about the post-war Cantos of Ezra Pound. While still involved in the arts, Bacigalupo is also engaged in a series of studies and translations of American and British authors. For many years, he has concentrated on the work of Ezra Pound, and has also written about other poets, including

Marianne Moore Marianne Craig Moore (November 15, 1887 – February 5, 1972) was an American modernist poet, critic, translator, and editor. Her poetry is noted for formal innovation, precise diction, irony, and wit. Early life Moore was born in Kirkwood ...

William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

, and

. His critical works include ''L'ultimo Pound,'' 1981, and ''Grotta Byron,'' 2001. He has also been the editor of Italian editions of the works of major modern poets, and a translator. In 1992, he won the Premio Monselice, a prize for literary translations, for his rendition of ''The Prelude'' by

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

. In 2001, Bacigalupo received the Premio Nazionale di Traduzione (National Translation Award). As a Professor of

American Literature American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition thus is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also inc ...

and professor of the theory and practice of translation at the Department of Foreign Languages and Cultures of the University of Genoa, Bacigalupo has been involved in the International Poetry Festival in Genoa.

Filmography and bibliography

Selected filmography

*''Quasi una tangente'' (1966) *''200 Feet for March 31'' (1968) *''Her'' (1968) *''Versus'' (1968) *''The Last Summer '' (1969) *''Migrazione'' (1970) *''Coda'' (1970) *''Warming Up'' (1973) *''Postcards from America'' (1975) *''Into the House'' (1975) *''Ricercar 1973-2020'' (2020)

Videos

*''Gregory Markopoulos and Robert Beavers in 1987'' (1987) *''Micky Wolfson in Action'' (1987) *''Don Perrygrove Enjoys the Italian Riviera'' (1987) *''Guido Fink and Friends'' (1988) *''Sheri Martinelli in 1988'' (1988)

Selected publications

*''Ezra Pound, Italy and The Cantos''. Clemson, SC (Clemson University Press), 2020. * ''Angloliguria: Da Byron a Hemingway''. Genoa (Il Canneto), 2017. *''Tutte le poesie'' by Wallace Stevens. Ed. and translated by Massimo Bacigalupo. Milan (Mondadori) 2015. *''Posthumous Cantos'' by Ezra Pound. Ed. by Massimo Baciugalupo. Manchester (Carcanet) 2015. *''The Politics and Poetics of Displacement: Modernism off the Beaten Track''. Ed. by Massimo Bacigalupo and Luisa Villa, Udine (Campanotto) 2011. *''Tigullio Itineraries: Ezra Pound and Friends''. Genova (Università degli studi di Genova) 2008. *''Critica del Novecento / Criticizing the Twentieth Century''. Ed. by Massimo Bacigalupo and Anna Lucia Giavotto, Genova (Tilgher) 2001. *''Modernità dei romantici''. By M. Bacigalupo et al.; ed. by Lilla Maria Crisafulli Jones et al., Napoli (Liguori) 1988. *''Life is ecstasy: a Transcendentalist Theme in Whitman, Pound, and other American poets''. Nice (Université de Nice) 1987. *''Ezra Pound, un poeta a Rapallo''. Genoa (Edizioni S. Marco dei Giustiniani) 1985. *''L'ultimo Pound''. Roma (Edizioni di storia e letteratura) 1981. *''The Forméd Trace: The Later Poetry of Ezra Pound''. New York (Columbia Univ. Press) 1980. *Many contributions in journals such as ''Clio'', ''English Studies in Africa'', ''L'Indice dei libri del mese'', ''Journal of Modern Literature'', ''Modern Language Review'', ''Notes and Queries'' (Oxford U.P.), ''Paideuma'', ''Paragone'', ''South Atlantic Quarterly'', ''Yale Review'', ''Yearbook of English Studies''.

References

External links

Bacigalupo profile
(Italian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bacigalupo, Massimo 1947 births Living people Italian film producers Italian essayists Italian literary critics Italian poets Italian male poets Italian scholars Italian translators Translators of T. S. Eliot Academic staff of the University of Genoa Male essayists Italian male non-fiction writers