Salvatore Quasimodo (Quasimodo Salvatore)

August 20, 1901, Mr.. - June 14, 1968
Italian poet Salvatore Quasimodo was born in Modica, a small town near Syracuse (Sicily). His father, Gaetano Quasimodo, was chief of the railway station, so the family moved from one town to another Sicilian. In 1916, Mr.. Salvatore and his brother enrolled in technical school in Messina, where at that time lived a family. Although Salvatore wanted to study in high school, his parents decided to give children a technical education, considering it a more practical. At this time the young man fond of poetry, begins to read classic and contemporary literature of Russia and France, and also publishes his first poems, together with his friends produced a newspaper survive, however, very short time.
In 1919, Mr.. K. leaves Messina and goes to Rome Polytechnic Institute, but because of financial difficulties drop out and got a diploma Surveyor. In 1920, Mr.. he marries Beach Donetti and begins seriously to engage in literature, in what his supporters Msgr Rampolla, Sicilian priest in Rome. Future writer studying Greek and Latin, and, uncertain of his literary abilities, is engaged in work that requires technical expertise.
Since 1926, Mr.. K. works in the Ministry of Civil Engineering, many around the country. It is an open hostility to the fascists, why can not engage in journalism, but it begins in earnest to write poetry. In 1929, Mr.. AK-law, Elio Vittorini, who later became well-known novelist, critic and translator, brought him into literary circles in Florence, where K. met with poets Eugenio Montale and Giuseppe Ungaretti, and with Alessandro Bonsanti, editor of 'Solarium' ( 'Solaria'), which were published a few poems novice poet.
In 1930. Bonsanti financed the publication of the first collection of poems to. 'Water and Land' ( 'Acque e terr'), where a lot of poems devoted to Sicily, and above all - a small masterpiece 'Wind over Tindara' ( 'Vento a Tindari'). Already in the first collection to. influenced by hermetism, poetic lines, distinctive properties which, according to the American critic Thomas G. Bergina are 'encrypted imagery, the cult of speech and a strict, sometimes mysterious intellectualism'. Poetry to. applies the concept of 'magic words', the belief that words are independent, that they are not only the purely descriptive function.
Over the next few years to. issued a number of poetry: 'sunken oboe' ( 'Oboe sommerso', 1932), 'The aroma of eucalyptus and other poems' ( 'Odore di eucalyptus e altri versi', 1933), 'Erato and Apollyon' ( 'Erato e Apollion', 1936), and 'Poems' ( 'Poesie', 1938). Realism 'Water and earth' is replaced in these collections hermetism. In 1932, a year after Montale, K. receives a prize of Florence 'Antico Fattore', and in 1934. moved to Milan, where moving closer to the circle yuzhnoitalyanskih intellectuals who call themselves 'young immigrants'. At this time, K. converges with Amelia Spechialetti, and in 1935. they have a daughter Orietta.
In 1938. K. tendered his resignation from the Ministry of Civil Engineering and became an assistant Cesare Dzavattini, . editor of several periodicals, . owned publishing house Mondadori, . the next year - the editor of the weekly 'Tempo' ( 'Il tempo'),
. In the same year, a dancer Maria Kumani of connection to. a son, Alessandro. During these years, the poet is engaged in translation: his book 'The lyrics of Greece' ( 'Lirici greci'), translation of Greek poetry in the modern Italian language, published in 1940. In 1941, Mr.. K. became a professor of Italian literature of the Milan Conservatory Giuseppe Verdi, and in 1942. produces a collection of poems selected and processed 'And it was evening' ( 'Ed e subito sera').
The horrors of the Second World War, misery inflicted on the land and people of Italy, deeply shocked to. and led to a change in his poetic style, drew his poetry to social problems. During these years the poet participates in the resistance movement, and even a short time in prison for anti-fascist activities Bergamo. At the same time the evolution of K. of hermetism to active creative position, 'the transition from the inner world of poetry to the poetry of belonging', as he wrote the critic with. McCormick.
In 1945, Mr.. K. joined the Italian Communist Party, but soon went out of its ranks, when he was ordered to write political poems. In the postwar years, the poet wrote essays, poems, a lot of converts, produces software for the creative evolution of his collection of poems 'Day by Day' ( 'Giorno dopo giorno', 1947).
After the death of his first wife in 1948. K. marries Mary Kumani, at which time he began to write theatrical article, first for 'Omnibus', and then for 'Tempo'. In 1956, Mr.. published collection of poems to. 'The false and true greens' ( 'Il falso e vero verde'), which preceded the software essay 'Discourse on Poetry' ( 'Discorso sulla poesia'), which stated that in his poems the poet is obliged to express their ideological views. At the end of 1958. K. visited the USSR, where, because of disease was delayed until May next year.
Despite the absolute authority to. in literary circles, he was considered the most important Italian poet, so the message about the awarding of the Nobel Prize for Literature 1959. was a big surprise. K. was awarded the prize for the 'lyrical poetry, which with classical animation expresses the tragic experience of our time'. In the acceptance speech at the awards ceremony to. said that 'poetry is born alone and ... this loneliness in all directions ... Poetry, even lyrical - it is always 'speech'. Listener can be anyone: the poet himself, his spirit, a bystander or thousands of people '.
In 1960, Mr.. K. divorced his second wife. In 60-ies. He publishes a collection of articles 'The poet and politician and Other Essays' ( 'Il poeta e il politico e altri saggi', 1960) and the last collection of poems, 'Give and have' ( 'Dare e avere', 1966). K. died suddenly (from a brain haemorrhage) in 1968, during a poetry festival in Amalfi, where he was chairman of the jury.
Although many modern critics as to. important representative hermetism, comparisons with Montale and Ungaretti, he does not stand. In 1959, Mr.. American researcher Glauco Kembon noted that 'K, no doubt, belongs to an important role [in] the modern Italian poets, although the last of his books are often disappointing'. In an article published in 'Buksebrod' ( 'Books Abroad') a year later, the critic Francis Golffing calls to. 'rather than a simple poet with such masters as Montale, Eliot and Yeats'. At the same time, English literature to. Baur in 1960. wrote that K., 'like no other modern poet, spoke on behalf of the whole of Europe'. K. also widely known for his critical articles and libretto, and especially - the translation of Shakespeare and classical authors, in t.ch. Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Virgil and Catullus, as well as modern European and American poets such as Pablo Neruda.
In addition to the Nobel Prize, K. in 1953. with Dylan Thomas Poetry Prize was 'Etna-Taormina', as well as premium Varedzhio (1958) and an honorary degree from Oxford University (1967).