Massimo Bontempelli

Massimo Bontempelli
Born (1878-05-12)May 12, 1878
Como
Died July 21, 1960(1960-07-21) (aged 82)
Rome
Occupation novelist, short story writer, journalist, playwright, composer
Nationality Italian
Genre Novel, short story
Literary movement Magical realism
Notable works The Chess Set in the Mirror

Massimo Bontempelli (May 12, 1878 – July 21, 1960) was an Italian poet, playwright, novelist and composer. He was influential in developing and promoting the literary style known as magical realism.[1]

Life

Bontempelli graduated from the University of Turin in 1903. He taught elementary school for seven years, doing his writing on the side, but abandoned teaching for journalism when he could not secure a position at a secondary school. He served as a war correspondent during WWI. After the war, he settled in Milan and became interested in the literary styles of futurism and magical realism. In 1926, he, along with Curzio Malaparte, founded the journal "900". James Joyce, Max Jacob, and Rainer Maria Rilke sat on the editorial committee and Virginia Woolf and Blaise Cendrars were among the contributors.[1] [2][3][4]

During the late 1920s and early 1930s, Bontempelli was an active fascist. He served as a secretary of the fascist writers' union and spent time abroad lecturing on Italian culture and spreading propaganda. In 1938, he refused to accept a university post formerly held by a Jewish professor and was kicked out of the fascist party. After WWII, Bontempelli won a Senate race but the results were voided when his fascist ties were discovered. In 1953, Bontempelli's "L'amante Fedele" won the Strega Prize, Italy's most prestigious literary award. After years of declining health, Bontempelli died in Rome in 1960.[1][2][3]

Works

Title page of Minnie la candida by Massimo Bontempelli (1928)

List of works:[5]

Works in English translation

— The Elevator Man. The Living Age, October 1, 1926, pp. 68–71.
— The Good Wind. The Living Age, July 1, 1927, pp. 44–47.
— Foundations. The Living Age, September 15, 1927, pp. 549–551.
— Sweet Adeline. The Living Age, April 15, 1928, pp. 720–722.
— Meeting Batoletti — A Railway Station Extravaganza. The Living Age, March 15, 1930, pp. 115–120.
— Letters of Introduction Translated by W.L. Dale. The Cornhill Magazine, No. 1030, Winter 1961/62 pages 268-271.
— Dea by Dea. Translated by Anthony Oldcorn in Twentieth-Century Italian Drama: An Anthology, the First Fifty Years, ed. Jane House and Antonio Attisani (New York: Columbia UP, 1995).
—Separations: Two Novels of Mothers and Children (Figlio di due madri / The Boy with Two Mothers and Vita e morte di Adria e dei suoi figli / The Life and Death of Adria and Her Children). Translated by Estelle Gilson. McPherson & Co, 2000.
— The Divine Miss D and Genuine Minnie in The Italian Theater of the Grotesque. A New Theater for the Twentieth Century: An Anthology, ed. and trans. Jack D. Street and Rod Umlas (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 2003).
—The Chess Set in the Mirror (La scacchiera davanti allo specchio). Translated by Estelle Gilson. Illustrated by Sergio Tofano. Paul Dry Books, 2006.
—The Faithful Lover (L'amante fedele). Translated by Estelle Gilson with an introduction by Luigi Fontanella. Host Publications, 2007,
—On A Locomotive & Other Runaway Tales. Translated by Gilbert Alter-Gilbert. Xenos Book, 2013.
—Watching the Moon and Other Plays. Translation and introduction by Patricia Gaborik. Italica Press, 2013. Also includes Stormcloud and Cinderella.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Keala Jewell. "Magic Realism and Real Politics: Massimo Bontempelli's Literary Compromise". Johns Hopkins University Press. That the foremost literary practitioner of magic realism in Italy, Massimo Bontempelli, was also the head of the National Fascist Writers Union for crucial years in the mid- to late-1920s is no accident of history.
  2. 1 2 Bontempelli, Massimo, 1878-1960. "Inventory of the Massimo Bontempelli Papers, 1865-1991". Online Archive of California.
  3. 1 2 "Massimo Bontempelli". Italica Press.
  4. ↑ Gaborik, Patricia (2007). "La Donna Mobile: Massimo Bontempelli's Nostra Dea as Fascist Modernism 1". University of Toronto Press. Modern Drama, Volume 50, Number 2, Summer 2007, pp. 210-232
  5. ↑ "Massimo Bontempelli (1878-1960) - Auteur du texte" (in French). data.bnf.fr (Bibliothèque nationale de France).
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