Montale, Debussy, and Modernism, Biasin Gian-Paolo

Integrating the study of both music and art into an exploration of the early poetry of Eugenio Montale (1896-1982), this book situates Italys premier poet of the twentieth century within the Modernist movement. Gian-Paolo Biasin finds in Montales poetry broad resonances, reverberations, and comparisons that involve it in the European culture of its time and that invite the reading of poetry, music, and painting as texts in a cultural system. This interdisciplinary approach expands our appreciation of Montales work in a way not possible with literary analysis alone.

Biasins study first shows the structural homology between some of Debussys preludes for piano and certain poems in Montales Ossi di seppia, emphasizing the rhythmic qualities of the compositions. This formal analysis leads to an understanding of the respective texts thematic, symbolic, and cultural meaning--specifically, antiheroism as a choice of life. Similar methodology is then used to reveal the relationship between the poetry of Montale and Giorgio Morandis etchings and between Montales poetic persona, Arsenio, and the novelistic characters of Svevo and Pirandello. Each of these comparisons brings to light a shared image, that of the clown (or antihero) as a mocking self-portrait of the modern artist.

Originally published in 1989.

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