Vittorio Sereni on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
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
Province of Varese biography University of Chicago Press profile
1913 births 1983 deaths People from the Province of Varese Italian male poets Italian soldiers Italian essayists 20th-century Italian translators 20th-century Italian poets Male essayists University of Milan alumni 20th-century essayists 20th-century Italian male writers Italian male non-fiction writers {{Italy-translator-stub
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
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
, Italy's military defeat in World War II, and its postwar resurgence.
Born at Luino
Luino (Western Lombard: ''Lüin'') is a small town and ''comune'' near the border with Switzerland on the eastern shore of Lake Maggiore, in the Province of Varese (Lombardy, northern Italy).
Luino received the honorary title of city with a presid ...
, Sereni graduated from the University of Milan
The University of Milan ( it, Università degli Studi di Milano; la, Universitas Studiorum Mediolanensis), known colloquially as UniMi or Statale, is a public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Europe ...
in 1936. In 1938, he co-founded the literary review ''Corrente di Vita ''Corrente di Vita'' was a biweekly Italian culture magazine published between 1938 and 1940.
The Corrente Magazine
In 1938 artist Ernesto Treccani founded the magazine ''Vita Giovanile'' with the financial backing of his father, Senator Giovanni ...
''. In 1941, he published ''Frontiera'', his first collection of poetry. He was drafted into the Italian Army during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
: captured by Allied forces in 1943, he spent the rest of the war in POW
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...
camps in Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
and Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
. These experiences formed the basis for his second poetry book, ''Diario d'Algeria''.
After the war, Sereni worked as a teacher and literary critic. From the mid-1950s until his retirement in 1976, he was literary director of the Arnoldo Mondadori Editore
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 1 ...
publishing house. His later collections of poetry included ''Gli strumenti umani'' (1965) and ''Stella variabile'' (1981). He was a prolific translator, rendering into Italian the works of Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneille (; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine.
As a young man, he earned the valuable patronag ...
, Paul Valéry
Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, mus ...
and William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet, writer, and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism.
In addition to his writing, Williams had a long career as a physician practicing both pedia ...
, among others. His collection of translated poems, ''Il musicante di Saint-Merry'', was awarded the 1982 Bagutta Prize
The Bagutta Prize is an Italian literary prize that is awarded annually to Italian writers. The prize originated among patrons of Milan's ''Bagutta Ristorante''. The writer Riccardo Bacchelli discovered the restaurant and soon he regularly gathere ...
.
Sereni's works are collected in English in ''The Selected Poetry and Prose of Vittorio Sereni: A Bilingual Edition'' (2006), translated by Marcus Perryman and Peter Robinson.
See also
*Corrente di Vita ''Corrente di Vita'' was a biweekly Italian culture magazine published between 1938 and 1940.
The Corrente Magazine
In 1938 artist Ernesto Treccani founded the magazine ''Vita Giovanile'' with the financial backing of his father, Senator Giovanni ...
External links
Province of Varese biography
1913 births 1983 deaths People from the Province of Varese Italian male poets Italian soldiers Italian essayists 20th-century Italian translators 20th-century Italian poets Male essayists University of Milan alumni 20th-century essayists 20th-century Italian male writers Italian male non-fiction writers {{Italy-translator-stub