Paolo Santarcangeli
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Biographical notes
Born in Rijeka in 1909, he taught Hungarian literature at the University of Turin. He has translated numerous texts of this literature, both lyrical and narrative, on which he has also worked intensively as an essayist. He is the author of many works of poetry and fiction, especially of an autobiographical nature.
A large part of his essay writing and his activity as a publisher of texts is dedicated to the history of religious symbols and myths. Editor of most of the "Breviaries of mysticism" published by the Bocca publishing house in Milan, Santarcangeli is also the author of a series of studies, including the following "Hortulus Litterarum ossia La Magia delle Lettere" Milan, Scheiwiller, 1965; "The Book of Labyrinths. Storia di un mito e di un simbolo", Firenze, Vallecchi, 1967 and Milano Frassinelli, 1984 e 1989).
Critical notes
According to Santarcangeli, exile is a denunciation of the contradictions of modern man, marked by the continuous perpetuation of the difficult search for oneself, for a place to feel at ease, for an identity capable of responding to the precariousness of being.
Santarcangeli's message testifies to and exorcises the loneliness of the individual, the destiny of the exile to be "doubly alone", and the moral and civil need of the "different" to be wiser, more generous and better than other men, as emerges from the autobiographical fiction novel "The Port of the Beheaded Eagle" (1959). It is about a Non-Existent City, which has become for the writer a port of memory beyond the ocean of time. The physical body of that city has really been decapitated by history: the irrevocable sentence was issued on June 10, 1940 and was carried out 5 years later.
Of 44 chapters, some are only brief reflections, poetic moments; others are longer and the density and acuteness of Santarcangeli as an essayist can be recognized. Other chapters are dedicated specifically to the city, its characteristic places and also its surroundings, as well as its history and culture, pages in which exile returns as the leitmotif of the book.
Critical notes inspired by "The non-existent city. The theme of exile In «Il porto dell'aquila decapitata»" by Paolo Santarcangeli in "La Battana", n.97-98, 1990.
Bibliography
Italian poetry
- Il cuore molteplice, Ubaldini, Rome 1949
- Canzoni della ricca stagione, Ubaldini, Rome 1951
- Death of a Warrior, Ubaldini, Rome 1966
- Resa dei Conti, Scheiwiller, Milan 1976
- Lettera agli antipodi, Vallecchi, Florence 1981
- Mirror of Illusion, Turin 1982
- Diario del Tigullio, Vallecchi, Florence 1989
Poetry in Hungarian
- Szökőár (Tsunami), Magvető, Budapest 1974
- Üzenet a túlsó partról (Message from the Other Side), Békéscsaba 1980
- Sötét láng (Black Flame), Magvető, Budapest 1985
Fiction in Italian
- Il porto dell'aquila decapitata, Vallecchi, Florence 1969
- Il fuoco e altri racconti d'amore e disamore, Turin 1973
- In cattività babilonese, Del Bianco, Udine 1987
Narrative in Hungarian
- Török induló Válogatott lebeszélések, Szépirodalmi, Budapest 1989
Non-fiction in Italian
- Hortulus litterarum, ossia la magia delle lettere, Scheiwiller, Milano 1965 [trans. in Hungarian, Europa, Budapest 1971]
- Il libro dei Labirinti, Vallecchi, Florence 1967 and Frassinelli, Milan 1984 [Hungarian translation, Gondolat, Budapest 1970]
- Nekya - La discesa agli Inferi, Uni, Milan 1981
- Santa Teresa d'Avila - Amore Divino, Rusconi, Milan 1980
- Homo ridens, Olschki, Florence 1989
Non-fiction in Hungarian
- Beszélgetések a Sátánnal (Conversations with Satan), Europa, Budapest 1987
- Pokolra kell annak menni (The Poet in the Underworld), Gondolat, Budapest 1980
- Magyar-olasz kapcsolatok - tanulmányok -, Akadémiai, Budapest 1989
Literary translations and analysis
- Hungarian lyric of the 900s, Guanda, Parma 1962
- Endre Ady, Poesie, Lerici, Milan 1963
- Endre Ady, Blood and Gold, Accademia, Milan, 1965
- Lajos Kassák, The Horse Dies and the Birds Fly Away, All'insegna del pesce, Turin 1969
- Michel Babits, The Book of Jonah, Arion, Budapest 1976
- Sándor Weöres, Towards perfection - The birth of poetry, Bona, Turin 1976
- Trilogy of Hungarian poets (S.Weöres, GY. Somlyó - Gy. Rákos), Vallecchi, Florence 1984
- Sándor Petőfi, Poesie scelte, UTET, Turin 1985
Libri
