Luciano Rebay collection of Giuseppe Ungaretti, 1964-1970, bulk 1927-1989
Collection context
- Creator:
- Rebay, Luciano and Ungaretti, Giuseppe, 1888-1970
- Abstract:
- Rebay and Ungaretti were close friends. Rebay held the first endowed Ungaretti chair of Italian literature and assembled this collection of recording and files.
- Extent:
- 2.1 Linear Feet 1 record storage carton; 1 document box; 1 large folder of photographs in Mapcase 15/B/1
- Language:
- English , Italian .
- Scope and content:
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Rebay and Ungaretti were close friends. Rebay held the first endowed Ungaretti chair of Italian literature and assembled this collection of recording and files.
The collection consist mostly of reel to reel tapes (18) and cassettes (22) of lectures given by Giuseppe Ungaretti at Columbia University, 1964, and University of Oklahoma, 1970. There are typed copies of his lectures on Giacomo Leopardi; photographs of Ungaretti; 2 meallions; and two books.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Giuseppe Ungaretti (born Feb. 10, 1888, Alexandria—died June 1, 1970, Milan) was born of Italian parents in the Egyptian seaport of Alexandria. Ungaretti studied in Paris in 1912, where he met Guillaume Apollinaire, Pablo Picasso, and Georges Braque. In Paris he fell under the influence of the French Symbolist poets, especially Stéphane Mallarmé.
Ungaretti fought in the trenches of World War I, and in his first book of poems, L'Allegria (1914–19; "Joie de Vivre"), he confronted that harrowing experience in verse that is both sparce and isolated. His tone and style changed in Sentimento del tempo (1933; "Sentiment of Time") where the verse is more expansive and rich, although strange and difficult.
Ungaretti is credited as the founder the influental Hermetic movement in modern Italian poetry.
From 1936 to 1942 Ungaretti taught Italian literature at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. The war and the loss of his son are expressed in his 1947 work Il dolore ( "Grief "). In 1942 Ungaretti returned to Italy and taught contemporary Italian literature at the University of Rome until his retirement in 1957. Important volumes published during this time are La terra promessa (1950; "The Promised Land") and Un grido e paesaggi (1952). Among his later volumes were Il taccuino del vecchio (1960; "An Old Man's Notebook") and Morte delle stagioni (1967; "Death of the Seasons").
In 1964, Ungaretti gave a series of lectures at Columbia University in New York City, and, in 1970, he was invited by the University of Oklahoma to receive its Books Abroad Prize. It was during this last trip that Ungaretti fell ill with bronchopneumonia. He returned to Milan wher he died.
Ungaretti translated into Racine's Phèdre, a collection of Shakespeare's sonnets, and works of Luis de Góngora y Argote, Stéphane Mallarmé, and William Blake.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
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Box 1 and 2 are located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
- Terms of access:
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Reproductions may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish material from the collection must be requested from the Curator of Manuscripts/University Archivist, Rare Book and Manuscript Library (RBML). The RBML approves permission to publish that which it physically owns; the responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
- Preferred citation:
-
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Luciano Rebay Collection of Giuseppe Ungaretti; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library
- Location of this collection:
- Before you visit:
- Researchers interested in viewing materials in the RBML reading room must must book an appointment at least 7 days in advance. To make the most of your visit, be sure to request your desired materials before booking your appointment, as researchers are limited to 5 items per day.
- Contact:
- rbml@library.columbia.edu